












Library of The Theological Seminary 
PRINCETON - NEW JERSEY 
Cb 


PRESENTED BY 






The Estate of 
Philip H. Waddell Smith 

BY 255. “WS3 19267 ¢ 21 

Wheeler, W. Reginald 1889- 
BS To 

Modern missions in Chile ane 
Rrra a | 


me 


if . 


zt 
fe 3 





In the same series: 


MODERN MISSIONS IN MEXICO 
W. REGINALD WHEELER, 
Dwicut H. Day, 
James B. RopceErs, 
published in May, 1925. 


MODERN MISSIONS ON THE SPANISH MAIN 
Impressions of Protestant Work in Colombia and Venezuela 
W. REGINALD WHEELER, 
WessTER EK. Browninc, 


published in June, 1925. 





Digitized by the Internet Archive 
In 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/modernmissionsinOOwhee 


‘(7Le ‘d) . poyuesatdat o10M suoTyezIURS.10 pur SUOIPVUILIOUIP OE PUB SUOTJeU gT ,, 
“ROLLOULY YNOG UL YOM UPIYSLIY) UO SsotBU0) VY} JY SALOPISTA pUR Sa}VSII[ep ETE ay} JO oulog 


SSOUO NUYAHLOAOS AHL UAACNOA SSHYDNOO IVLNGANILNOO Y 








MODERN MISSIONS 
IN 
CHILE AND BRAZIL 


BY 


W. REGINALD ‘WHEELER 
ROBERT GARDNER McGREGOR 
MARIA McILVAINE GILLMORE 

ANN TOWNSEND REID 


Members of a Commission Appointed to Visit 
Chile and Brazil by the Board of Foreign 
Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
in the U.S.A. 


AND 
ROBERT E. SPEER 


Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 
Chairman of the Committee on Codp- 
eration in Latin America 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA 


THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
1926 


Copyricut, 1926, By 
W. REGINALD WHEELER 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION . .W. R. Wheeler 
Part I 
CHILE 
CHAPTER 
I. Down tHe West Coast or SoutrH AMERICA 
R. G. McGregor 
II. Across ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES TO CHILE 
W. R. Wheeler 
III. First Impressions or Cuite W. R. Wheeler 
IV. Tue Gospet In THE Nitrate MINES AND ON 
THE Pampas oF NorRTHERN CHILE 
R. G. McGregor 
V. Curico anp THE CENTRAL VALLEY 
R. G. McGregor, M. MclI. Gillmore 
VI. Tue Cuurcu In CHILE AND A CHILEAN NIco- 
DEMUS . R. G. McGregor 
VII. Some Cuitean Memories . . Ann T. Reid 
VIII. Vauparaiso, THE “ VALE oF PARADISE ” 
W. R. Wheeler 
IX. A Sunpay 1n Santiago . . R. E. Speer 
X. Tue Work or a Protestant MIssion IN THE 
CAPITAL OF CHILE . . W. R. Wheeler 
XI. Tue Work or a Protestant Mission IN THE 
CapiTaL oF CHILE (Continued) 
W. R. Wheeler 
XII. Aw Ovrurne History or Cute. J. H. McLean 
XIII. Some Sieniricant AsPrects oF THE History oF 


. F. E. Smith 


THE CHILE MISSION . 


Vv 


PAGE 


xl 


84 
100 


112 


CONTENTS 





vi 
CHAPTER PAGE 
XIV. Some Sianiricant ASPECTS OF THE HiIsTorRY oF 
THE CuiLE Mission (Continued) 
F. E. Smith 132 
XV. Epvucation IN CHILE . . W. E. Browning 152 
XVI. Tue Apvance Program AND NEEDS OF THE 
Cute Mission . W. R. Wheeler 168 
Part II 
BRAZIL 
I. Roxiiing Down To Rio . . W. R. Wheeler 173 
Ii. First Impressions or Braziu W. R. Wheeler 181 
III. Some Guimpses or THE PrrsBYTERIAN CHURCH 
in Rio anp Sao Pauto . . W. R. Wheeler 188 
IV. On tue Roap to Cuyasa . R. G. McGregor 198 
V. Own tHE Roapv to Cuyasa (Continued) 
R. G. McGregor 211 
VI. Cuyasa, a Mission Station 1n Marto 
Grosso, THE “ Great WILDERNESS ” 
R. G. McGregor 222 
VII. Curitrysa anp Ponta Grossa 
M. MclI. Gillmore 230 
VIII. Guimpses or Goyaz . . M. Mel. Gillmore 236 
IX. Macxenziz Couuece . . W. R. Wheeler 246 
X. Up rue Lapper or Laritupe From BueENos 
Arres To Bania . . W. R. Wheeler 258 
XI. From Banta to Ponte Nova By STEAMER, 
Ratt, Motor, anp Mute . W. R. Wheeler 266 
XII. Muues, Mounrains, anp MIrAc ies 
M. Mel. Gillmore 288 
XIII. Ponte Nova anp tHE Work oF A PROTESTANT 
Mission IN TROPICAL BRAZIL 
W.R. Wheeler 298 
XIV. Bauza, Rio, anp New York . W. R. Wheeler 311 
XV. An Ovruine History or Braziv 
W. A. Waddell 322 


CONTENTS Vii 





CHAPTER PAGE 
XVI. Husrory or THE Brazit Missions 
W. A. Waddell 835 


XVII. Epucation In Brazin... . W. <A. Waddell 353 
XVIII. Apvance PrRoGRAM AND NEEDS OF THE BRAZIL 
Miusion#)'. a vert... WOR. Wheeler 662 
Part III 


THE MONTEVIDEO CONGRESS AND SOME GENERAL 
OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONS 


I. Tur Coneress oN CHRISTIAN WorkK IN SouTtTH ‘ 
AMERICA . . 5» Wi evga at 1b, kos, ss Deer SOU 


II. Tue Conaress on ke PU Work IN SoutTH 
America (Continued) . . . . R. E. Speer 384 

III. Ture Oprenina anp Cuiostinc MEETINGS aT 
DT ONT IDEO? th nv 4 sa! sah nib wl) des, us OPERE* GIG 

IV. Mepicat Missionary Work IN SovutTH 
AMERICA .. . be ell ve PING. kee Fas teen tan 

V. Impressions or Saree AMERICA AND THE Mis- 
sionaRY Work Tuere ... R. E. Speer 420 


A Brier Reapina List oN CHILE AND Braziu.... 481 





ay Ot) hie pee 
i wee 


yidiAu f 


4 
i 


ai ‘2 
if 
4 qa ’ fi ‘al thant 
; 49 


ifé 


tas 
venue bay 


yh 


int 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 
A ConTINENTAL Conaress UNDER THE SoUTHERN Cross 
Frontispiece 
Tue Lake or THE INCAS IN THE ANDES OF CHILE... 12 
MDA GEM TIMIAN « FANDIEM! .. C5 6) Som mi o's ohilen, pane e 
oe anlar OF VTHE ANDES |). of cel/e teh us) ea eo S 
Tue Girts’ Norma ScHoout IN VALPARAISO ... . 46 
Putrir Usep sy Dr. Trumsputt Now 1n CuHuRCH IN 
WA ET AS Cr DE A, 2 Wists Oi Mia Paa at POL NE ORM RRG Ameer cea 8 Fag, MG 
Grave oF Dr. Davin TRUMBULL IN VALPARAISO. ... 58 
Oe VIN TOPE RUA cl VIE MG Nai EN Uiles Olt als ae eee 
Basy Dispensary at SANTIAGO. ........s«. . 64 
CoMMENCEMENT Day ar THE INstITUTO INGLES, SAN- 
Ree Pe tN een Lc NTR OM id ci eha ti Rik el, hie ie echte eRe, Ek 
Tue Bisite Seminary IN SANTIAGO ........ 7 4s 
Senora Onivares, THE Oxpest Livinc Convert To 
PROTESTANTISM IN CHILE, Mrs. J. F. Garvin... 188 
Tue Harsor anp City or Rio DE JANEIRO 186 
CR RIIViGTS RAGA to og.) Ein Wc bebe de) all he oh 190 
THe GovERNMENT SNAKE Farm, Instiruto BUTANTAN, 
Perea LAUT SRO tn, Yee ak a eae e Ee alo UL 
A SCENE ON THE Paracuay River . . 2.) 2). 4s). 212 
PMMAMAGIAY) IKIVER) STEAMER PMO SS Ui ee hale lke Sue 
TRANSPORTATION BY Mute anp By Moror 1n Marto 
Grosso, THE “ Great WILDERNESS” . ...... . 218 
Biemhatrs An, CMY ABA 0g) uss peleicizmnls. tart deblalta Unde Ree 
Tue PresBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CuYABA ...... . 228 
Tue Marin Scuoou BuitpINa at CAsTRO ...... . 282 
ese Ls SCHOOL AT CURITYBA ..%.« « «+ 25s) ete 208 


ix 


x ILLUSTRATIONS 





FACING 
PAGE 
PLANALTINA, THE Proposed SITE OF THE CAPITAL OF 


PIR AZ IL see Ver We ies . « 242 
Lae Moror' Bus to ‘PLANALTINA 0 0 39%. 04 ee eee 
Some MonrevipEo DELEGATES ON THE MACKENZIE CoL- 

gran: GaMpPpus 2)! og a¥ird geo WA hel ls ne ed, | Lae as 
GamBa, “THE Skunk,” 1n Dirricutties; tHE Mute 

Passes THE Moror on THE Roap to AutaGcoas .. . 270 
Our Mute TRAIN on THE Ponte Nova Roan... . . 280 
CrossiInc THE Paracuassu River at CAcHoEIRA .. . 290 
Dr. W. W. Woop anv Mrs. GILLMoRE IN THE CoRRIDOR 

or THE New’ Hosprrani is) 2 Ge oe 
Tue New Hospitat Unper Construction at Ponte 

NOVAS 5 elses tye ol see gales Gene eh tape ee tie eo 
Tur Ponte Nova, CHurcH is) 2 ey eee 
THe  WaTEeR SUPPLY: Fo) 07 0) ho ee ee 
A PontTE! Nova SAWMILL, 92) 0) .\)6) Gee eo 

MAPS 
Map or Soutu America SHowi1ne Route or THE Com- 

MISSION Mee, SNe 0 SUR es eee ee 4 
Map or Brazit SHow1nG Line EstTaBLIsHED BY TREATY 

OF = ToRDESILLAS eS 8 a 


Map or Brazit witH PresByTERIAN Mission STATIONs, 
PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE 13> 01/2" 0000 2, 


INTRODUCTION 


HIS volume is an outgrowth of a seven 
months’ visit to Presbyterian and Protestant 
Missions in Chile and Brazil, and of attendance at 
the Congress on Christian Work in South America, 
held in Montevideo, Uruguay, March 29 to April 
9, 1925. 

The Commission, or Deputation, which made this 
visit and prepared this book was appointed by the 
Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church in the U.S.A., and was composed of Rev. 
Robert Gardner McGregor, D.D., Pastor of the 
North Avenue Presbyterian Church, New Ro- 
chelle, New York, a member of the Foreign 
Board; Mrs. Henry v. K. Gillmore, President of 
the Missionary Society of the Madison Avenue 
Presbyterian Church, New York City, also a mem- 
ber of the Foreign Board; Miss Ann T. Reid, 
Candidate Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of 
Foreign Missions; and Rev. W. Reginald Whee- 
ler, Executive Secretary for the Latin American 
Missions of the Foreign Board. Dr. Robert E. 
Speer, Secretary of the Presbyterian Foreign 
Board, and Chairman of the Committee on 
Cooperation in Latin America, who had acted also 
as Chairman of the Committee on Arrangements 
for the Congress on Christian Work in South 
America, was present at the Congress and the re- 


Xl 


xii INTRODUCTION 





gional conferences in Brazil and Chile, and has 
written the concluding chapters of this book which 
deal with the Congress and with some general mis- 
sionary problems in South America. 

The presence of Mrs. D. J. Fleming, a member 
of the Foreign Board, of Mrs. Robert E. Speer, 
and of Mrs. James 8S. Cushman, who attended the 
Montevideo Congress and the regional conferences, 
added much to the value of these meetings and to 
the happiness of the members and delegates of the 
Presbyterian Church present at these gatherings. 

Three members of the Commission, Dr. Mc- 
Gregor, Mrs. Gillmore, and Miss Reid, sailed from 
New York, November 13, 1924, on the S.S. Santa 
Teresa of the Grace Line, and reached Antofa- 
gasta, Chile, on December 1, and Valparaiso on 
December 3. Dr. McGregor disembarked at the 
former port and spent a week traveling through 
the nitrate section of northern Chile. During 
December the Commission visited the work of the 
Mission in the cities of Valparaiso, Santiago, 
Concepcion, and Curico, and the Central Valley; 
met with the Mission in its Annual Meeting, 
January 7-16, and with the Presbytery of Chile, 
January 12-17, and left for Brazil, via the Andes, 
on January 16. ‘They went from Buenos Aires 
up the east coast and attended the meeting of 
the South Brazil Mission held at Castro from 
January 27 to February 6. After the meeting the 
deputation separated, Dr. McGregor making the 
long trip inland to Cuyaba, near the headwaters 
of the “‘ River of Doubt,” now named Rio Teodoro 


INTRODUCTION xiii 





Roosevelt in honor of President Roosevelt, in 
Matto Grosso, where he spent eight days, the entire 
expedition consuming more than a month; Mrs. 
Gilmore going to Goyaz, also in the interior, east 
of Cuyaba; and Miss Reid visiting various Stations 
in South Brazil. 

Dr. McGregor is the first and only representa- 
tive of the Board and of the Presbyterian Church 
in the United States, excepting the missionaries 
themselves, to visit Cuyaba; similarly, Mrs. Gill- 
more is the first North American Presbyterian, 
except the resident missionaries, to visit Goyaz. 
Mrs. Gillmore is also the only woman from New 
York who has ever taken the overland route by 
mule to Ponte Nova. The delegation thus saw 
more of interior Brazil than any other representa- 
tives of the Foreign Board have done, and the 
missionaries appreciated their willingness to endure 
the hardships and discomforts of travel through the 
Brazilian hinterland. 

The Commission went to Rio for the Regional 
Conference there, held March 13-15, and then via 
Sao Paulo to Montevideo to attend the Congress 
on Christian Work in South America held there 
March 29 to April 8. 

In company with a number of delegates bound 
for the Montevideo Congress, Dr. Speer and Mr. 
Wheeler sailed from New York on the S.S. 
Southern Cross of the Munson Line, February 28, 
attended the Regional Conference in Rio, March 
13-15, had three days in Sao Paulo, March 18-21, 
and reached Montevideo, March 24. 


xiv INTRODUCTION 





After the Congress adjourned on April 8, Dr. 
McGregor and Miss Reid sailed for New York 
City on the S.S. American Legion, arriving in New 
York on April 27. Dr. Speer and Mr. Wheeler 
went to Buenos Aires to attend the Regional Con- 
ference held there. Mr. Wheeler left Buenos 
Aires, April 12, by the Transandean Railway, for 
Chile, Dr. Speer following him on April 15. They 
met with the Chile Mission at a Special Meeting, 
April 17-21. Dr. Speer attended the Regional 
Conference in Santiago, held April 21-26, and 
sailed from Valparaiso on the S.S. Santa Elisa 
of the Grace Line on April 29, arriving in New 
York, May 18. Mr. Wheeler left Chile, April 21, 
recrossed the Andes and Argentina, sailed from 
Buenos Aires on the twenty-third, and went up the 
east coast on the 8.S. Pan America of the Munson 
Line, and the S8.S. Zeelandia of the Royal Holland 
Lloyd, arriving in Bahia, May 1, where Mrs. Gill- 
more had preceded him, having reached that port 
from Montevideo on April 16. 

In company with the Bahia missionaries, Mrs. 
Gillmore made the trip by train and mule to Ponte 
Nova, where she arrived April 29. Mr. Wheeler 
reached Ponte Nova, May 8. Mrs. Gillmore and 
he attended the Special Meeting of the Central 
Brazil Mission, May 11-15, and then left Ponte 
Nova, May 16, for the overland trip to Bahia, 
where they arrived on the twenty-first. They 
sailed from Bahia for Rio on May 28, on the 
S.S. Orania of the Royal Holland Lloyd, reached 
Rio, May 30, and sailed for New York, June 10, 


INTRODUCTION XV 


on the $.S. American Legion of the Munson Line, 
arriving again in the United States on June 22. 

The cost to the Foreign Board of the deputa- 
tion’s trip’ was lessened by the payment of Miss 
Reid’s travel expenses by the Sage Legacy Com- 
mittee, and through Mrs. Gillmore’s generously 
meeting a large proportion of her own expenses. 

Much of the material in this book was prepared 
on the field, the chapters written in South America 
having been left practically unchanged. The 
authorship of the various chapters is indicated by 
the initials of the writers. 

This volume is the third in a series dealing with 
the Latin American Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church, the other two books being entitled Modern 
Missions in Mexico and Modern Missions on the 
Spanish Main. 

Where property and equipment are mentioned, 
with suggestions as to additional items needed, the 
fact should be kept clear that the views presented 
are those of the Commission, and do not necessarily 
represent the most recent actions of Missions and 
Board. ‘These latter are, of course, the only 
actions that are “ official,’ and they should be 
secured by individuals who are interested in such 
matters. 

The Commission desires to thank the members 
of the Missions in Chile and Brazil for their help 
and guidance in the preparation of this book; 
especially are they indebted to Rev. J. H. McLean, 
of Chile, for Chapter XII, “ An Outline History 
of Chile”; to Miss Florence EK. Smith of Chile, 


Xvi INTRODUCTION 





for writing Chapters XIII and XIV, on “ Some 
Significant Aspects of the History of the Chile 
Mission,” which include translations of material 
never before published; to Rev. Webster EK. Brown- 
ing, Litt. D., of Montevideo, for preparing Chap- 
ter XV on “ Education in Chile”; to W. A. 
Waddell, D.D., of Brazil, for the preparation 
of Chapters XV, XVI and XVII in Part II, 
“An Outline History of Brazil,’ “ History of 
the Brazil Missions,” and “ Education in Brazil,” 
which contain original material of value; and to 
Miss Augustine Schafer and Miss Mabel V. 
Schluter, of New York, for their services in pre- 
paring the manuscript for the publisher and for 
helping to see the volume through the press. 

This book is published by 'The Westminster 
Press for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions, and the Commission desire to thank the Press 
for their many courtesies in its production, and also 
the generous friends whose financial help has made 
possible its publication at reduced cost both to the 
Press and to the Foreign Board. 

The Commission returned to the United States 
with the clear and abiding impression of the mirac- 
ulous accomplishments of the churches in Chile and 
in Brazil, of the vast needs still to be met, and of 
the brave and true spirit of the missionaries in both 
these lands. 

In Brazil, the Presbyterian communicants total 
over 30,000; the Brazilian Presbyterian Church is 
two thirds the size of the Presbyterian Church in 
China, and second in size only to the Presbyterian 


INTRODUCTION Xvii 


Churches in China, Korea and Africa. But in no 
land is the Church more firmly rooted and strong 
in its spirit of self-direction and self-support. ‘The 
Presbyterian Church of the United States invests 
approximately $60,000 annually in the support of 
its missionaries and contributes less than $10,000 a 
year toward the work of the Brazilian Churches; 
the Presbyterian Churches of Brazil in 1923 con- 
tributed more than $240,000 toward their own 
work. In Brazil, there is a “ self-supporting, self- 
governing, and _ self-propagating Church,” and 
there are individuals now living who have seen the 
beginning of its life, and have watched its growth 
in prestige and in power. 

Despite the progress made, there is yet a vast 
unoccupied area on the continent and there are 
certain classes and groups not yet reached. The 
Protestant movement has followed in general the 
coast line; there is a vast region, equaling four 
fifths of the area of South America and totaling 
about 6,000,000 square miles, in which there are 
“wide ranges untouched vitally by Christian 
agencies.” “'This continent within a continent 
equals more than a third of all Asia, more than a 
half of all Africa. This constitutes for evangelical 
Christianity the largest geographical expanse of 
unworked territory to be found on the face of the 
earth.” Our Missions share responsibility for a 
part of this unworked territory. ‘The interior of 
the great states of Matto Grosso and Goyaz, the 
Taboleiro in Bahia, the Central Valley of Chile, 
all call for occupation and evangelization, and this 


xviii ‘INTRODUCTION 





generation will not see the end of the work of the 
Protestant pathfinder and pioneer. 

A final impression is that of the courage and 
consecration, the truly divine spirit of unselfish and 
loving service, of the missionaries in these southern 
lands. ‘The work has been built upon nothing less 
than their living sacrifice, blessed by the Spirit of 
the living God. They are men and women the 
latchets of whose shoes the members of the home 
Church and the secretaries of the Boards are hardly 
worthy to unloose; in their service and support the 
Church is offered an opportunity to enter into “ an 
inheritance uncorruptible, and undefiled, and that 
fadeth not away.” 

W. RecinaL>D WHEELER 
156 Firra AVENUE 


New York Criry 
Aveust 5, 1925 


PART I 
CHILE 










: | be 
. be 
: ; wes 
t areas 
- “a 
ae eb st 8 : 


Pavan anal tene bees | 





" id fy 
\y it r ’ hy 
, ¥ ‘af 
' 4 1 4 wy 
ih 
‘ 
‘ uy 3 
4 ‘ J 
. ‘ : : 
J \" DS, 
i 
' ity 
AUER, SS Lt 
| Sasi) 
sy - 
a 
‘. 
, ! 
} .' 
’ ¥ | 
™“, 
- 
. 
» 
2 
Ga 
| ' 
¥ 
. ’ 
! f 
, 
j 
A , bi 
ty Sy tee et 
, . i 
y d te i 
J y 
ete cee : 
} i * 
i, j ur : | Mt 


th my a st. haa 
i : , | He Watt Pie a - ’ 4) 
ania i) rey ce te) 
i CT pea) Rae } 

a age 1s iat ay eae Ava 


a M Ni 4 ak Bile 
| bf ; f OP i at ale iv 





| Rh 
ALESHA ON 8 Va 
Ai VP, TRA OMY oak CA | Dac tee ie 
’ b nthe 


CHAPTER I 
DOWN THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA 


On Boarp S.S. Santa Teresa, Grace LINE, 
November 29, 1924 

HREE members of the Commission of the 

Foreign Board to Chile and Brazil, Mrs. 
Gillmore, Miss Reid, and I sailed from New York 
November 13 on the steamship Santa Teresa of 
the Grace Line, and our journey has been a most 
pleasant one. A ship radiogram received on the 
nineteenth reported: ““ November 17 in New York 
City was the coldest on record; two persons were 
frozen to death; shipping having a hard time.” 
Our weather and experiences have been quite the 
opposite. The days have been uniformly bright 
and calm, the only excitement being when we have 
seen a ship or a porpoise or a flying fish in the 
distance. 

This is not a fast boat, only thirteen knots an 
hour; and it is not a large one, only 5,000 tons. 
On board are some eighty passengers, most of them 
business men returning from their vacations spent 
in England and the States. 

Since we left Panama we have been sailing down 
the coast of Ecuador and Peru, and now it is Chile. 
At noon to-day we shall make our first Chilean 
port, Arica, where we shall stay some four hours 
to unload freight, and perhaps we shall have a 


chance to go ashore, 
3 


4 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





We have made quite a number of these stops, 
four of them in Peru, which have added much to 
the length of the journey; but where shore landing 
has been permitted, the time has been invested in 
interesting sight-seeing. 

By far the largest place at which the boat has 
stopped is Callao, the seaport for Lima. Here we 
spent thirty-six hours, discharging some 3,000 tons 
of freight. ‘Twice we went into Lima, the second 
time with Mrs. McCornack, wife of Dr. A. E. 
McCornack, of the British American Hospital at 
Bellavista, as our guide. ‘This has been, by all 
means, the most interesting and profitable day we 
have spent so far. It began by our going direct 
to the hospital after breakfast. First we went 
through the hospital, learned of its history, and saw 
the wonderful work these splendid Christian people 
are doing. This hospital, which is supported by 
money given by the English and American resi- 
dents of Lima and Callao, is directed by the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. It 1s one of the few 
screened-in hospitals in South America and accom- 
modates fifty patients. ‘These good people are do- 
ing’a wonderful work and it was a joy to your 
deputation to meet them and see personally their 
work. 

Mrs. McCornack was our guide in Laima. 
There we visited the Cathedral, San Marcos, 
founded in 1551, the oldest university in this conti- 
nent, the Art Gallery, the City Market. Of 
course, on the street, one does not see a city. One 
must get behind the closed doors and see the family 






2] SF i 


j ® 
i CARACAS 





2 
NEZUELAS 








Neher [ nh a 
gnosoTa f “{ ) es vo Sade makes \ 
H ape pea a . ts 
coLomBra\ \~ ¢ Ay "eron 
\ 
— 






\ meine. : 
ECUADORN, ; / Manaos 
~~ ’ Am a> 2 Ri 
_——" Tquitos J %e 















































iv $ 8 
Aa Ayo" gS 38 Pernambuco | 
Pom Rope Bi: ER A T L, (Recife) 
-* = 
Pe 3 Mw id Jacobina, 
us Callao \ yt Ponte Nova 4 { 
: Bahia 
\ \ rf o Burity an Salvador) 
\ gtA PAZ Sa Sy Cuyaba Planalting 

Fae BO TEE Sta aah 
ha on Vi 

5 Tacna yA 

wer Corumbé ve 

P iquique Tag ee ae 4 > 
Q ie] \ “1. ean : — S 

i ocopitla / & 6 : Ne & Ss 

2 (8 Narg > <— 

sik a Se Cas, Sees Ze. 

‘ - ; Pont ace tl - 

Taltdl Wasuncidn Oe ad cae: y t ot > 

! a 
y C¢piapo Pe oN 
H/ OF aR 0 “% 
“Vallenar a 7 if? % & 
o i Bo 



















Z 
\ | be ef Nn, Yu 
: ta del Inca (gee ~~ W 
od guerrendoza es j 
: — URUGUAY } = 
Cy Valparaiso 5 Rage © Sh (_ 
San Fernanfog ) hag SN La 
Constitucion ) = Cprico > pee e, 7 
S 
Concepcion ) no a 
jes) BUE mm 


v 







MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA 


1 4 
INN—-— Strait of SEP SHOWING ROUTE OF THE COMMISSION 









ou 


( 
: 





DOWN THE WEST COAST 5 





life. Yet the avenue, street and alley give one a 
pretty good cross section of what the home, school 
and church are doing for the people. If this is so, 
with our American life —even the East Side of 
New York —as a standard, there is much to be 
done. 

Just now we are going down the Chilean coast, 
so near that we can see it very distinctly, and yet 
far enough out to see the snow-capped Andes 
towering up in the background. At noon we 
should arrive in Arica, remain there some four 
hours, then on to Iquique, then to Antofagasta on 
Monday, where I leave the boat for the nitrate 
fields, while the ladies go on to Valparaiso. 

All have kept wonderfully well, but we are 
anxious to begin the work to which these ocean days 
are but the necessary prelude, the doorway through 
which we are to enter upon what we all hope and 
pray will be a real contribution to the advancement 
of the Kingdom of our Lord and Master, Jesus 
Christ. 

R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER II 


ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES TO 
CHILE 


HREE members of the Commission reached 

Chile in November; Dr. Speer and I arrived 
there in April. Dr. McGregor has written of the 
approach to Chile by sea from the West; this 
letter will tell of the journey to Chile from the 
East across Argentina and the Andes." ‘The trip 
across South America offers interesting compari- 
sons with that across North America. In both, a 
whole continent is crossed; in both, the railway 
terminals are in important cities on the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts: in the North, New York and 
San Francisco, New York being the largest city 
on that continent; in the South Buenos Aires and 
Valparaiso, the first named being the chief city of 
South America. In both, the traveler traverses 
wide plains and high mountain ranges and looks 
upon scenery of the most striking and diverse 
character and beauty. 

The contrast between the two routes is also in- 
teresting. I had crossed the United States just 
two months before, from California to New York, 
and the experiences of the trip offered a fresh basis 


for comparison. ‘The northern route is of course 


1 Chronologically this chapter belongs in a later part of the sec- 
tion on Chile, but for logical and geographical reasons it is placed 
here. 


6 


ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES 7 





much longer, covering nearly 3,000 miles, while the 
southern journey from ocean to ocean is but 900 
miles. ‘The former trip can be made in four days; 
the latter in two. ‘The plains of the Argentine are 
much wider and more extensive than those of our 
own Middle West; and the Andes are higher than 
the Rockies or the Sierras, the highest transandean 
point being 10,512 feet above sea level; the highest 
elevation on the Santa Fe, 7,600 feet. All the 
northern journey is made by broad-gauge lines, on 
“adhesion ’’; part of the southern is made on nar- 
row gauge on “rack and pinion,” the more nervous 
passengers, as I observed them when we were near 
the summit and the altitude began to be felt, appar- 
ently being on the rack and the engine on the 
pinion. 

The two most striking portions of the territory 
covered in the South American trip are the pampas 
and the Andes. From the time we left the subur- 
ban districts about Buenos Aires (so called because 
of a remark of one of the companions of Pedro 
de Mendoza, when their expedition landed in 1536 
on the banks of the River Plate, and felt the fresh 
air that blew across the plains, so welcome after 
the foul air and congestion of their ships, “ How 
good the air is of this country!” “Que buenos 
aires son los de este suelo!”’), about ten o’clock on 
the morning of April 12, until we reached Men- 
doza early next morning, we rode over the vast, 
level, apparently unending, Argentinian plains. 
W. H. Hudson and Cunninghame Graham have 
painted revealing word pictures of them: “ We see 


8 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE’ 





all around us a flat land, its horizon a perfect ring 
of misty blue colour where the crystal blue dome 
of the sky rests on the level green world. ... On 
all this visible earth are no fences, and no trees 
excepting those which have been planted at the old 
estancia houses, and these being far apart the 
groves and plantations look like small islands of 
trees, or mounds, blue in the distance, on the great 
pampa or plain.” * “On every side stretched the 
illimitable pampa, a sea of grass, grass and still 
more grass —a great green ocean that the wind 
swept over as it sweeps about the Horn. In it the 
man who ventured out and lost his way never re- 
turned, but wandering, till exhausted, he lay down 
to leave his bones beside some stream, haunted by 
flamingoes and Magellanic swans. Only on horse- 
back could it be safely traveled over by Europeans, 
and even then the risks were great.” * 

On this limitless green prairie we saw many 
ostriches (rheas) and countless droves of cattle 
and sheep and horses. Cunninghame Graham, who 
lived as a boy and young man in Argentina, has 
drawn an accurate and amusing picture, reminis- 
cent of our own frontier, of the “ Gauchos” or 
cowboys, who for such a long time were the only 
inhabitants of the pampas, men of mixed Indian 
and Spanish blood who lived a nomadic existence, 
following the shifting herd of cattle and wild 
horses: 


‘Their lives were passed on horseback. On foot 

1 Far Away and Long Ago, W. H. Hudson, p. 63. 

2 The Conquest of the River Plate, R. G. B. Cunninghame 
Graham, p. 3. 


ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES 9 


they waddled in their gait like alligators ashore, 
and many of them must have lived their lives, and 
never walked amile. ... Kew of them could read 
or write, and yet their address and carriage would 
have put to shame many of those born with far 
greater opportunities in towns. ‘Their speech was 
slow, their voices usually low-pitched, a circum- 
stance they owed most likely to their Indian blood 
and to their solitary lives. ... All of them were 
most hospitable, and gave the traveler all that they 
had to give, mate and meat, a welcome, and a fresh 
horse if the guest’s horse was tired. ... In all 
of them there was a vein of poetry, both in their 
ordinary speech and the rude rhymes they impro- 
vised to the guitar. ... 

“The Gaucho has joined the herds of wild brown 
cattle and the Baguales (wild horses), it may be in 
some T'rapacanda or another country where they 
still pass their lives more or less as they did when 
on the pampa, for well I know no Gaucho would 
give a bad ‘ boliviano’ for a heaven where he was 
forced to go afoot.” * 

The Gauchos are passing, as are the cowboys of 
the North, but the pampas and horses remain, and 
after a few hours crossing these prairies, we could 
readily understand where the Argentinian polo 
players had gained the skill and prowess so evident 
when they met the Meadowbrook Five and com- 
peted in the International Championships in the 
North two years ago. 


1 The Conquest of the River Plate, Cunninghame Graham, pp. 
295, 296. 


10 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





Early on the morning of the thirteenth we 
reached Mendoza, about twenty-four hours from 
Buenos Aires, and situated at the foot of the east- 
ern slope of the Andes. ‘There we changed from 
the Internacional dormitorio and boarded the trans- 
andean train that was to carry us over the mountain 
ranges into Chile. Lord Bryce, writing of this 
line, points out that the tunnel through the Andes 
is at a greater height than either the Simplon or the 
Gothard, which pierce the Alps, and says: “ If any 
other trunk line of railroad in the world traverses 
a region so extraordinary, it has not yet been de- 
scribed. Until one is run from Kashmir to Kash- 
gar, over or under the Karakoram Pass, this An- 
dean line seems likely to hold the record.” * 

The story of the building of the railroad is a 
dramatic recital of continued battle against almost 
overwhelming odds, that lasted for over twenty 
years before the victory was won. Mendoza on 
the Argentinian side of the continental divide and 
Los Andes on the Chilean, both about 2,500 feet 
above sea level, are only seventy miles apart in a 
straight line, but the Andean range rises between 
to a height of nearly 13,000 feet at the Uspallata 
Pass, where the mule trail crossed, and the engi- 
neering problems involved in climbing the slope, 
tunneling the mountain wall, and protecting the 
line from avalanches and snow blockades were ex- 
traordinarily difficult. In the eighties it required 
four days of the hardest traveling by coach and on 


1 South America: Observations and Impressions, Lord Byrce, 
p. 26170" 


ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES 11 





mule back for travelers to go from Mendoza to 
Los Andes. In 1887 the Argentine Government 
began building a railroad from Mendoza; two years 
later the Chilean Government started its end of the 
line; in April, 1910, after many delays and inter- 
ruptions, the complete line was opened to traffic. 
The railroad between Mendoza and Los Andes is 
155 miles in length: it climbs up to 10,512 feet 
where a tunnel penetrates the summit of the range. 
The maximum grade on adhesion is two and a half 
per cent: on the rack and pinion it is eight per 
cent. The line is narrow gauge, three feet three and 
three-eighths inches in width. The trip over the 
mountain requires about twelve hours, about seven 
hours on the Argentinian side and five on the 
Chilean, due to the more precipitous western slope 
of the Andes. ‘The chief problem, after the road 
was built, was to keep it open and clear of snow; in 
1912 the line was blocked for 143 days; in 1919 for 
160 days. But the snowsheds and tunnels have 
been improved and lengthened so that since 1919 
there have been no serious interruptions in travel, 
even in the winter months. 

The scenery on the trip over the Andes is ex- 
traordinary because of its harsh and barren bleak- 
ness, the unusual coloring of the mountain slopes, 
and the height of the surrounding passes and 
peaks. 

When we reached Mendoza, the country looked 
much like that of Southern California, south of 
the San Bernardino range, but after an hour’s 
climbing we sighted the jagged, savage summits of 


12 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


the Andes themselves, their blackness thrown into 
sharp relief by the dazzling snow banks piled high 
on their crests and drifting down valleys and 
ravines, and above by the sparkling sunshine and 
clear blue sky, fleeced by white clouds as if by the 
daintiest silk. “One felt at a glance that this is 
one of the great ranges of the world, just as one 
feels the great musician in the first few chords of a 
symphony.” * ‘The harshness and severity of the 
view continued and increased as we climbed, and 
had its culmination after we had emerged from the 
tunnel on the Chilean side, which is even more pre- 
cipitous than the Argentinian slope. At Portillo, 
9,466 feet above sea level, lies the Lake of the Incas, 
that reminds one of the Tottenzee and other moun- 
tain lakes in Switzerland. But even on the Grim- 
sel the surroundings are not so harsh or forbidding 
as those near El Lago del Inca, and one agrees 
with the statement, “A scene more savage in its 
black desolation would be hard to imagine.” 
Near Mendoza the mountain slopes are serrated 
and fluted and are rich in varying tints and colors 
that change and shade into each other as the sun- 
light and angle of vision shift, so that the rocky 
walls appear luminous and lit by a hidden fire, as 
do the Painted Hills at the head of the Imperial 
Valley in California. But higher up the rocks and 
strata are actually of sharply contrasted hues, 
brown and red and yellow and blue, with black and 
gray lavas and tufa rock and long slopes of gravel 


1 South America: Observations and Impressions, Lord Bryce, 
p. 253. 





THE LAKE OF THE INCAS IN THE ANDES OF CHILE 





THE ARGENTINIAN ANDES 


“One felt at a glance that this is one of the great ranges of the 
world, just as one feels the great musician in the first 
few chords of a symphony” (p. /2). 





ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES 13 





and sand stretching down from the “ banded poly- 
chrome cliffs.” 

Not only is the transandean line the highest of 
the main trunk lines of the world, but it traverses 
mountain ranges and runs near mountains which 
are the highest on the American continent. As we 
mounted the valley of the Rio de los Cuevas 
through the Cordillera Principal, we saw on the 
left the snow-crowned crater of the volcano Tu- 
pungato, 21,450 feet in height, and just beyond 
Puente del Inca, 8,822 feet above sea level, where 
passengers stop over for the trip to the Christ of 
the Andes, we saw, revealed by a sharp-cut valley, 
the massive shoulder of Aconcagua, the highest 
peak in the western hemisphere, towering 23,300 
feet above the sea. From the train window Acon- 
cagua looked much like the Jungfrau, a snow- 
covered wall rather than a peak, the shadow of the 
valleys contrasting with the white freshness of its 
crest and bolder promontories; clouds drifted about 
it and gave it an unreal and ethereal aspect; then 
the base of an intervening mountain blocked it 
from our view. Later we saw Aconcagua from 
near Valparaiso, when it rose, cone-shaped like 
Shasta or Fujiyama, on the far horizon; but from 
the valley of the Puente del Inca we had had a 
nearer and more intimate view. ‘That valley is 
about 9,000 feet above the sea, and Lord Bryce 
has emphasized the uniqueness of the sight of such 
a towering summit so near at hand: “ Only in the 
Himalayas and the Andes can one see a peak close 
at hand soar into air nearly fifteen thousand feet 


14 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





above the eye, and I doubt if there be any other 
peak even in the Andes which rises so near and so 
grandly above the spectator.” 

We reached Los Andes at about eight on the 
evening of the thirteenth, changed to a train of 
broad gauge, and at eleven-thirty were at Val- 
paraiso, on the shores of the Pacific, forty hours 
after we had left the Atlantic at the mouth of the 
River Plate. 

At Santiago I parted company with Dr. Speer 
and other delegates who had come to Chile from 
Montevideo and started back to retrace my route 
up the Brazilian coast and to join Mrs. Gillmore 
in Ponte Nova. 

On the return trip I left Santiago alone on April 
22 at five o’clock, stayed overnight with other trans- 
andean travelers at Los Andes, and after two days 
and a night arrived at Buenos Aires at seven 
o'clock on the twenty-third, having spent eight 
days in Chile and having made the transcontinental 
and transandean journey twice in twelve days. 

On our previous trip across the continent, we 
had left Buenos Aires on April 12, Easter Sun- 
day, because there was no other way by which the 
missionaries from Chile and I could reach Chile in 
time for our conference there. Sunday afternoon 
we held a little Easter service in one of our com- 
partments on the “ dormitorio.” ‘There were eight 
of us, representing several different Churches; a 
Methodist read the Scripture; a Presbyterian led 
in prayer; a Lutheran spoke briefly on Christ’s 
resurrection and what it should mean to us and to 


ACROSS ARGENTINA AND THE ANDES 15 





the work of the Church in the lands we were trying 
to serve. The memory of another scene came to 
me: I thought of a similar service on the Santa 
Fe railroad in the United States, on Christmas 
Day, when Mrs. Wheeler and I and our two chil- 
dren were on our way to California. On that day 
we wondered if we could hear the words of the 
New Testament and the prayer because of the roar 
and distracting motion of the train. But when 
we began the service, the train came to a halt, 
our car being apparently in the center of a wide 
Kansas plain. The ground was white with snow 
and more snow fell silently as we read together of 
the coming of the Christ-child and the singing of 
the angels above the shepherds, and in the sudden 
silence of the train and the quiet of the snow- 
covered prairie the sacred words came to us with 
fresh beauty and force. 

So on the Internacional, six thousand miles south 
of the homeland, as we began our service, the train 
came to a stop and we listened in silence on those 
illimitable pampas of the Argentine to the record 
of the Master appearing to His startled and un- 
believing disciples, of His promise of new power 
and peace to all those who should follow Him, and 
of the new and final beatitude, “ Blessed are they 
that have not seen, and yet have believed.” The 
spark of faith and hope and love lighted on that 
day has blazed ever brighter through the succeeding 
centuries, sending men and women across the seas 
and over plains and mountains more difficult and 
dangerous than the pampas and the Andes, and we 


16 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





rejoiced that we could join with those who are 
seeking to know Him and the power of His resur- 
rection, and through that knowledge and power are 
trying to serve their fellow Americans and their 


fellow men. 


Wii RaW 


CHAPTER III 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CHILE 


HILE is generally approached either by 
steamer down the west coast of South Amer- 
ica or by rail across Argentina and the Andes. 
Dr. McGregor, Mrs. Gillmore, and Miss Reid fol- 
lowed the former route, first sighting the Chilean 
shores and mountains on November 29. Dr. Speer 
and I took the transandean express, as described 
in Chapter II, and entered Chilean territory in 
April. But our first impressions of the country, 
as we approached it from the sea and from the 
Andean sky line, were much the same, and these 
impressions will be given briefly in this chapter. 
The first impression that came to us was that of 
the diversity and beauty of the natural scenery of 
Chile. The deputation’s first glimpse of the coun- 
try was of the tawny, dusty plains of the nitrate 
section in the north, surmounted in the distance by 
the snow-covered Andes, the parched drought of 
the desert contrasting with the cooling snows and 
ice-fed streams of the far-away mountain range. 
At three o’clock on the afternoon of April 13 our 
party was surrounded by the bleak and savage 
peaks of the Andes: at eleven o’clock that night 
we were in the fertile, friendly Valley of Val- 
paraiso, with the curling waves of the Pacific 
stretching out before us. Waterless desert, snow- 
7 


18 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





covered mountains, barren rock, fertile fields, ocean 
shore: here indeed was diversity! 

And with that diversity was a rare and satisfying 
beauty of color and of line. We did not have the 
opportunity to visit the south of Chile, where, in 
the mountains near the Argentine border, is a series 
of beautiful lakes, Todos los Santos, Llanquihue, 
and others, that are said to equal the loveliness of 
any of the mountain waters of Canada or Switzer- 
land, but three of our delegation did see the rich 
Central Valley, the heart of Chile, and they agreed 
with the description of the region as “ fresh, dewy- 
bright, with the familiar sweetness of the temperate 
zones of western Europe, the great garden of South 
America, one of the most enchantingly lovely, the 
most frankly friendly regions in all the world.” 
The picture painted by L. E. Elliott of the bright- 
ness of the Chilean foliage is not overdone: 

“Chile is a land of brilliant hues. The dark 
waters, shouldered by tree-clothed mountains, of the 
Strait of Magellan, reflect yellow and russet leaf 
changes as bright as in the maple woods of Canada. 
Blue glaciers, pure snow heads, and the delicate 
green of fern brakes are contrasted with the crim- 
son of wild fuchsias and the mass of glorious bloom 
of apple, and cherry orchards. Farther north, 
where poplars stand like tall flames against the 
background of the hills in the Chilean autumn, and 
the willows line the rivers with gold, all is soft and 
glowing; but beyond the northern limits of vege- 
tation where nothing meets the eye but masses of 
orange mountains that seem like glowing draperies 


FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CHILE 19 





hung against the unchanging blue sky, there is an 
extraordinary clarity of line and tint.” 

The second impression that came to us was of the 
peculiar formation of the country. Three of our 
delegation spent several days making the journey 
by boat and by train from the northern boundary 
of Chile south to its capital; I crossed the country 
from east to west, from the crest of the Andes to 
the shores of the Pacific, in seven hours. With a 
coast line, a length from north to south, of nearly 
3,000 miles, Chile has an average breadth of only 
90 miles. It would reach clear across our own 
continent from California to New York, but its 
average width would be only about that of the state 
of ‘Tennessee. Chile has been called the “ Shoe 
String Republic’; a more poetical description of 
the topography of the country is given by L. KE. 
Elliott, in her book, Chile, To-day and To-morrow: 

“Chile is a ribbon of a country, an emerald and 
gold strip stretched between the snow-crowned wall 
of the Andes and the blue waters of the Pacific. 

“This ribbon is uptilted all along its western 
edge to form the coastal range defending the long 
central valley. It is lightly creased transversely 
where, from east to west, streams fed with snow 
water drain down from the Andean peaks. Below 
the fortieth degree of south latitude the ribbon is 
twisted and ragged, with the tilted edge half sunk 
in stormy waters. ‘Thirty times as long as it is 
wide, Chilean territory runs from the seventeenth 
to the fifty-sixth degree of south latitude. 

“To the north lie the tawny and burning deserts 


20 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





where not so much as a blade of grass grows with- 
out artificial help, where no rain falls, year after 
year, where every form of life is an alien thing. In 
the south are broken, rocky islands and inlets, 
with matted forests of evergreen trees with their 
feet in eternal swamps, a land of furious gales and 
cruel seas, where.turquoise glaciers creep into the 
dark fiords. Eastward stands the great barriers 
of the Andes, snow-covered for half the year, with 
proud peaks rising at least eight thousand feet 
higher than the head of Mont Blane. To the west, 
Chile looks out upon a waste of waters, with New 
Zealand as the nearest great country. 

“ Between the forbidding lands of the extreme 
north and far south and the frontiers of mountain 
and sea, lies fertile Chile — fruitful, gentle, brisk, 
well-watered.” 

We were impressed also by the homogeneity of 
the population. Shut in and isolated as the coun- 
try is by mountain walls and by the sea, with com- 
paratively little immigration, the Chileans have 
developed a uniformity of race and spirit that is 
rare in South America. The people to-day are 
mainly descendants of the original Spanish and 
Araucanian stock. In 1920 it was said there were 
only four African Negroes in the whole country; 
of the total population of approximately 4,000,000 
(3,754,723) in 1920 only 140,000 were of “ for- 
eign” blood. It was interesting to find that people 
of three other countries, American, British, Ger- 
man, all spoke of the Chileans as having traits dis- 
tinctively American, British, and German, with 


FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CHILE 21 





whom these other nationals felt peculiarly at home. 
Chileans are known as the Caucasians of South 
America, and they have a good name for steadiness, 
reasonableness, and industry. 

A final impression is that of the contrast between 
Chile and other South American lands, especially 
Brazil. On his first visit to Chile in 1909, Dr. 
Speer summarized the outstanding points in that 
contrast. He wrote: 

“On passing from Brazil to Chile one is im- 
pressed at once with the contrast which the two 
countries and peoples present. One les almost 
wholly within the tropics; the other almost wholly 
in the Temperate Zone. One is as wide as it is 
long, and the other is a thin strip one hundred miles 
or so broad, stretched along the coast for 2,500 
miles. The area of Brazil in round numbers is 
3,200,000 square miles, and of Chile 300,000, about 
one eleventh the size of Brazil. The wealth of 
Brazil is agricultural, while of the 750,000 square 
kilometers of Chile, only 20,000 are cultivated 
lands, 100,000 are semiarid, 200.000 forest, and 
430,000 sterile. Yet Chile’s wealth is in these 
sterile lands, embracing 57 per cent of the terri- 
tory, for there are the great nitrate beds, and the 
varied mineral veins. In Brazil everything is 
spread out, expansive; in Chile, drawn in and 
compacted. Brazil is so large that it does not 
know itself. Distant provinces are like small inde- 
pendent governments. Chile is highly centralized, 
with all its activities focused in the capital and 
ordered by a small class of men. ‘The Brazilian is 


22 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





placid and tranquil; the Chilean, energetic and 
enduring. ‘By reason or by force’ is the motto 
stamped on the Chilean coins. ‘ Progress and 
order’ are the words on the flag of Brazil. In 
Brazil the population is a composite mixture with 
a large immigration and a strong African element. 
In Chile it is largely homogeneous, with a negli- 
gible immigration and no Negro element whatever. 
The fundamental problems are closely akin in the 
two countries, but the contrasts serve to give an 
edge to facts.” 

Some of the distinctive facts of the service of our 
missionaries, as our Commission saw them during 
their visit to this unique land of Chile, are given in 
the chapters: that follow. 

W. R. W. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE GOSPEL IN THE NITRATE MINES AND ON 
THE PAMPAS OF NORTHERN CHILE 


Rica ADVENTURA, CHILE, 
December 4, 1924 


UNDAY morning, November 30, bright and 
early, Rev. Robert B. Elmore, delegated the 
representative by the Chilean Mission to welcome us 
to Chile, came aboard the Santa Teresa at Iquique. 
I can and do assure you that he was most welcome 
because as we neared the end of our journey we 
were becoming increasingly aware of our short- 
coming and handicap in not knowing Spanish. 
But if we devoured him with our questions, he was 
equally guilty of the same offense — he devoured us. 
On Monday we made Antofagasta, my place of 
debarkation. ‘There we were met by Rev. D. R. 
Edwards and Rev. Irven Paul who had been work- 
ing their way up north by stages, visiting our 
churches in the Taltal field. ‘They, too, you may 
imagine, were most welcome, especially to me, since 
I was to visit some of our churches in the nitrate 
mines of North Chile and they were to be my guides 
and interpreters. | 
They brought to us on board the news that a 
twenty-four-hour strike of all kinds of labor had 
been declared for that day and that not a shop was 
open or would open. ALI six of us, Mrs. Gillmore 
23 


24 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





and Miss Reid and we four men, managed to get 
ashore. We found hundreds of men, well dressed 
and most quiet and orderly, in the streets and also 
scores of mounted soldiers and lancers moving up 
and down to keep the people from congregating. 
The ladies and Mr. Elmore returned to the ship for 
luncheon while Mr. Edwards and Mr. Paul and I 
went to the hotel, where we spent the night prior to 
getting a train the next morning for nitrate mine 
number one, Santa Isabel. We left Antofagasta 
at eight in the morning and arrived at ten-twenty 
in the evening —the notoriously quick time of 
fourteen hours and twenty minutes for 155 miles — 
an average of eleven miles an hour. 

This part of Chile has our western desert en- 
tirely surpassed. During all these hours and all 
these miles — excepting some solitary humans, 
donkeys, dogs, and goats — not a sign of life did 
we see — no grass, no trees, no brooks or rivers, no 
birds, no beasts, no reptiles! Sand and rock; rock 
and sand! But into this desert men have driven 
a railroad and established their oficinas because 
they have found rich deposits of nitrate and the 
world needs nitrate. And into this barren country 
has come our Church, the only Protestant Church 
in this part of Chile, with the gospel of Jesus 
Christ — and this part like all the rest of the 
world needs the gospel. 

Last night I attended and spoke at my first 
Spanish church service. In addition to Mr. Kd- 
wards and Mr. Paul there was the native pastor, 
Senor Rodriguez. ‘There were exactly forty men, 


THE GOSPEL IN THE NITRATE MINES 25 





women and children crowded into the little build- 
ing supplied by the Nitrate Company free of 
charge for our work, while on the outside were 
probably as many more people who either could not 
or would not come in. It was impressive — every 
bit of the service. One new member was received 
into the Church and a little babe was baptized. 
Mr. Edwards is leaving this field for Valparaiso 
while Mr. Paul is coming up to take his place. So 
both of them spoke — one his valedictory and the 
other his commencement, while I had the privilege 
of bringing the greetings of the home Church, four 
thousand miles away, and of telling of the power 
of the gospel to save the world. 

This morning we spent in calling upon some of 
the people in their homes — thus trying to show 
them that our interest is more than skin-deep. At 
noon, after a hurried breakfast, we came by freight 
train to this oficina, seven miles away, to conduct 
a service to-night. 

At six to-morrow morning we leave by freight 
train for Tocopilla, sixty miles away, for a service 
there and then leave for Valparaiso, where we 
should arrive on the tenth. 





S. S. Rio Bueno, 
December 8, 1924 


I came down from the pampas on Friday. ‘The 
pampas! What are they? They might be called 
the table-land up and back from the coast. To get 
to them, we left Antofagasta last Tuesday by rail- 
road, traveled 155 miles, grassless, treeless, water- 


26 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





less miles, reached an elevation of 4300 feet, and 
got off at Toco-chico. It took us exactly fourteen 
and a half hours to travel the 155 miles, eleven 
miles an hour. ‘There we were met by a peculiar 
mule-drawn vehicle on narrow-gauge tracks, by 
means of which we reached the Santa Isabel 
Nitrate Mining Company’s headquarters. This is 
an English concern, and by its officers we were 
made most welcome and comfortable. ‘There are 
quite a number of these mining companies owned 
either by Englishmen or Germans. We held serv- 
ices in two, Santa Isabel and Rica Adventura, 
Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The at- 
tendance at both was about forty persons, a little 
larger gathering perhaps than usual. ‘Thursday 
we spent in calling at the homes of some of the 
members, or in the mines on some of the men. That 
the work done by the missionaries counts for good 
was evidenced to me in several ways. In the homes, 
I seemed to see a little more self-respect, a little 
more cleanliness; in the mines I noted that a num- 
ber of the men held positions of responsibility, 
while Mr. Tomlinson, the manager of the Santa 
Isabel, told me that a great change for the better 
had been wrought in the mine since we had begun 
work there: there was less drunkenness, greater 
regularity in reporting for work, especially after 
a holiday or holyday. Formerly it was two or three 
days after the holyday before the men would re- 
port. Now they report immediately. 

Friday we left for Tocopilla where we have a 
church building, a manse, and an established native 


THE GOSPEL IN THE NITRATE MINES) 27 





pastor. ‘That night we held service there. Again 
the attendance was about forty. Sunday morning 
I was invited by the manager of the American 
Power Plant to hold a service in his house, which I 
was glad to do; it was attended by people from 
both the American and English colonies. After 
dinner we went to the Sunday school of our Mis- 
sion, bade them good-by, and made for the boat, Rio 
Bueno, on which we are now bound for Valparaiso, 
where we should arrive Thursday morning. 


R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER V 
CURICO AND THE CENTRAL VALLEY 


CONSTITUCION, CHILE, 
December 23, 1924 


URING the past two weeks we have had little 
or no time to do anything but get from place 
to place under the able and well-planned leadership 
of one or another of our missionaries. At times, 
in spite of the fact that we should think otherwise, 
we have looked upon these missionaries as enemies 
instead of friends. It is this way. Take, for ex- 
ample, Valparaiso. ‘These missionaries had made 
plans for every morning, afternoon, and evening 
for a week. This, of course, was all right — just as 
it should be; but when they had tired us out and no 
doubt themselves, too, they turned us over to a new 
and fresh set of missionaries who picked us up at 
this point, and started us pell-mell into a similar 
week in Santiago, while the Valparaiso missionaries 
retired from the scene to recuperate. Of course, we 
can understand it all, but whether or not we shall 
be able to stand up under it, is something which 
only time will tell. If you could see us now, after 
three most strenuous weeks, you would ask us, 
“What’s the matter?” and we should have to an- 
swer, “© Wounded in the house of our friends.” 
That we might recuperate a bit plans were made 
for one day’s rest in this beautiful place by the 
28 


CURICO AND THE CENTRAL VALLEY 29 





sea. We arrived this noon from ~Talca and leave 
for Curico at seven-fifty-five to-morrow morn- 
ing. Christmas Day we expect to spend with the 
Hendersons in that place. ‘There will be, however, 
very little down here to remind us of the day. 
Santa Claus does not do much business down here 
in this Fourth of July climate. Yet, I am sure we 
shall join with all of our far-away friends in the 
Northland in worshiping the Christ in whose name 
we have been sent and whose gospel we seek to 
proclaim. 

In conclusion for this time, let me say for your 
deputation that these missionaries are simply 
wonderful men and women laboring in difficult 
places with a heroism that seems never to tire, 
always with a smile on their faces which seems to 
say: “ I’m glad I’m here and you could not get me 
to go elsewhere for the world. ‘This is my job and 
by the grace of God, I will do it to the very best 
of my ability.” ‘To us they have been the embodi- 
ment of thoughtfulness and kindness. They have 
caused our cup to run over at all times with grati- 
tude to God for their deep and abiding consecra- 
tion and friendship. 


R. G. McG. 


VALPARAISO, CHILE 


We are back in Valparaiso again after a delight- 
ful trip through the Central Valley, which is the 
country lying between the Coast Range and the 
Andes. ‘The more we see of Chile and its people, 


30 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





the more we like it all. If South America does not 
like North America, certainly the people of Chile 
give no indication of it. They are cordiality itself. 

We started on this trip from Santiago, first with 
Mr. Henderson through his district, and then Mr. 
Spining took us over to go through his section and 
brought us back again here, where we have been 
attending first the Mission meeting and then pres- 
bytery. It is a continuous performance as you 
might imagine when these good people have been 
accumulating thoughts for fifteen years. They 
reckon time from Dr. Speer’s visit here fifteen 
years ago. 

The 1 impression we have of the country south of 
Santiago is that it is the garden spot of Chile. 
There is no drought there, so there is plenty of 
vegetation — wonderful trees and miles of wheat 
fields and vineyards. The latter are really a blot 
when one thinks what they mean, for liquor is cer- 
tainly the curse of Chile. It is a hard matter to 
fight, too, for we hear that many of the vineyards 
are owned by the Catholic Church which openly 
recommends the different kinds of wine. As so 
much of its revenue comes from liquor it will not 
do away with this income, even if alcohol does wreck 
the people. 

There is much intoxication, many drinking 
places, bottles being carted from one place to an- 
other, and consequent poverty. Members of our 
church are required to be total abstainers. If there 
is any lapse, they are dropped from the rolls until 
they can show a change of heart. ‘There is a tem- 


CURICO AND THE CENTRAL VALLEY . 31 





perance society which is doing good work. Mrs. 
Garvin is an officer and untiring in her efforts. 

The impression we received of the mission work 
in the Central Valley is of a gallant staff of mis- 
sionaries and very inferior equipment. The 
churches without exception are miserable buildings 
to which only the very poor people care to go. 
They are too small, dingy, ugly, and generally un- 
attractive — not in the least representative of the 
Presbyterian Church; nothing but grace and a 
stern sense of duty would ever take anyone into 
them if there was any other place to go. We could 
never hope to compete with the big Catholic 
churches standing conspicuously on the town plaza 
but the buildings could at least be attractive-look- 
ing and clean. Of course it is a tribute to the work 
that so many of them are inadequate. Some had 
schools attached and more had not, both from lack 
of proper teachers and from lack of space. We 
think schools are very necessary both that the chil- 
ren of the evangelicals, as they are called to avoid 
the word Protestant, may have week-day religious 
instruction and because they are discriminated 
against in the schools where the teachers are Cath- 
olic. Back of that is the necessity for a larger 
training school to prepare the teachers and better 
salaries for them when they become teachers. 
They are paid an entirely inadequate salary now 
but we hope that will soon be changed. 

We spent Christmas morning in the prison in 
Curico. It was much too warm to seem like Christ- 
mas, being midsummer here, so going to a prison 


32 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


Neen eee eee eee ee ee eee eee ee 
did not make it any less like Christmas. It is a 
most antiquated spot. The new warden, however, 
is a man with many ideas founded upon what he has 
heard and read of Thomas Mott Osborne. It was 
the first time a Protestant minister had ever been 
allowed in the prison. Mrs. Henderson asked per- 
mission to go with the national pastor and some of 
the church people to give the prisoners a Christ- 
mas service, and a meat pie and fruit afterwards. 
To her surprise the warden consented. ‘Then she 
told him she was going to have some guests from 
New York. That sounded very distinguished to 
him, so he said that in that event he would invite the 
governor of the province and some of the high 
dignitaries. 

The hour was set for ten. We went in soon 
after that time. The warden received us with 
much éclat, then escorted us to front seats in the 
auditorium. In about half an hour the prisoners 
were marched in; in another half hour the band 
arrived, and still later the dignitaries — all of which 
is thoroughly Chilean. The nationals put on a 
good program of song and recitation, most of 
which had a religious tone. Dr. McGregor made 
a stirring speech, looked the officials in the eye and 
told them what he thought of the liquor question 
— the warden had told us that most of the prisoners 
were there because of crimes committed when they 
were intoxicated. Then the band, which had been 
discoursing sweet music in the patio, played the 
national air of Chile, and the service was over. The 
prisoners were lined up in the patio where they 


CURICO AND THE CENTRAL VALLEY 88 





received the pies and fruit, and then went back to 
the enclosures. The criminal judge and_ the 
warden stayed with us to the end, both of them 
asking many questions about how prisons were 
managed in the States. The other officials had had 
a little too much of religion and prohibition — they 
left soon. We have since put the warden in touch 
with Mr. Osborne, hoping to encourage him to be 
the Thomas Mott Osborne of Chile. ‘The cells are 
beyond words. There is absolutely nothing in 
them but a strip of burlap on which the prisoner 
sleeps. The door is solid wood with a small barred 
transom above. The only bright spot is that the 
men are not allowed in the cells in the daytime but 
are kept out in the air in one of the patios. Their 
heads are not shaved and they do not wear stripes. 
When we left they all gathered at the bars of their 
respective enclosures and waved gaily to us, and 
called adios. ‘They do not work, because the last 
warden decamped with the funds and there is no 
money to buy material. 

All this is not definitely our work but in a way 
everything is the work of our missionaries that 
tends to uplift and Christianize the people. And 
they do seem so grateful and responsive. 


M. MclI. G. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE CHURCH IN CHILE AND A CHILEAN 
NICODEMUS 


CHILLAN, 
December 28, 1924 
T’S just four weeks to-morrow since I landed on 
Chilean soil. What I have seen, heard, 
thought, and felt I cannot begin to tell you in a 
letter, though I should write for days. Every day 
— though we have visited as many as three dis- 
tant churches some days — has a sameness to it. 
There are quite the same little unpretentious build- 
ings, quite the same rude benches, quite the same 
little squeaky folding organs, quite the same brave, 
courageous God-fearing, upstanding missionaries, 
and quite the same kind faces, Chilean, Indian, and 
Spanish. ‘There is always present the same need 
and always the same opportunity of preaching the 
blessed gospel of the redeeming love of God 
through Jesus Christ. | 
In every town, regardless of size (and we have 
visited, I suppose, at least two dozen places and 
probably some forty or fifty churches), we find a 
large Roman Catholic church — we would call it a 
cathedral in our land — preaching and doing those 
things from which so many of these peoples have 
turned. I tell you that if you could see what we 
34 


THE CHURCH IN CHILE 35 


are seeing every day you, too, would come to at 
least three conclusions: 

1. That these peoples need the gospel. 

2. That they want the gospel. 

3. That they will get it only as such as you and 
I give it to them. 

To-day, for example, we have been on the train 
twice and have spoken to three groups. One of 
them met ina home. ‘The owner is a widow. She 
was a Roman Catholic. She needed the money 
she could get from renting (on Sunday) a room to 
the missionary for a service. She did not believe in 
the Protestants — we are called Gringoes down 
here — but she sat Sunday after Sunday behind a 
partly open door in another room to listen. What 
she saw and what she heard brought conviction. 
This was only three months ago. Now she is in 
the congregation, a member of the Church, and 
to-day she told Mr. Spining, the missionary in this 
district, that she wanted to give her house and land 
to the congregation for a church and a school — 
she to have the privilege of living in her two little 
rooms for the rest of her life. What do you think 
of that? Do you tell me that the days of miracles 
are past? Do you tell me that you do not believe 
in foreign missions? And what do you think she 
calls the room in which she listened behind that half- 
open door? She calls it her “ Nicodemus room.” 
Surely she came to Jesus by night and into that 
very room she brings other friends who are inquir- 
ing the way but are too timid to come right out in 
the open. 


36 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





I’ve always believed in missions. But now I’m 
on fire for missions, because, as I have said, I see 
not only the need, but the readiness to accept the 
gospel if presented. 

Before I left home one of our members gave me 
a check for one hundred dollars to use as I thought 
best. I brought it with me. Already it’s all gone. 
And what a joy was mine to give it — here a little 
and there a little. My regret has been, as you may 
imagine, that it was not many times that sum or, 
that it was not, like the widow’s cruse, unfailing. 

We shall have been here four weeks to-morrow 
and in twenty days we shall go into Brazil — and 
I assure you we shall be sorry to go. But, again, 
we shall probably find the same need and oppor- 
tunity. 

R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER VII 
SOME CHILEAN MEMORIES 


Hore, Puenta pet Inca, ARGENTINA, 
January 19, 1925 


ERE we are in the heart of the Andes, taking 
a three days’ rest between the Chile and the 
Brazil Missions. Yesterday we went to see the 
statue, Hl Cristo Redentor, the Christ of the 
Andes, which the Governments of Argentina and 
Chile have placed on the border between the two 
countries as a sign of perpetual peace. ‘The in- 
scription reads, “Sooner shall these mountains 
crumble into dust than the people of Argentina and 
Chile break the peace which they have sworn to 
maintain at the feet of Christ the Redeemer.” 
These words, read in the midst of the tremendous 
sweep of the Andes, are more than impressive. 

The railway used to run through the cumbre 
(ridge) near the statue, but now a tunnel, just 
ninety yards short of being two miles long, has 
been built, which brings the train through the 
mountain on the top of which stands the Christ. 
This makes it necessary for those who wish to see 
the statue to stop off and drive up to it. 

We left the hotel at seven in the morning and 
returned at three-thirty in the afternoon, after a 
day spent in the midst of the wonderful splendor 
of the mountains of every shape and color, from 

37 


38 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





Aconcagua, 23,300 feet high, and crowned with 
eternal snow, to the smaller, pink mountains near 
the Hotel Puente del Inca. 

As I write I can see, high up on the side of the 
mountain, the stone called the Inca’s god, which 
bears a rude resemblance to a man, and from which 
the hotel takes its name. Almost directly under 
it, back of the -hotel, the Roman Catholics are 
building a lovely little stone chapel. As one looks 
at the stone god and at the stone chapel, one wishes 
that the hills could look down upon a more vital 
something to replace the old god. 

To-day has been spent in letter-writing, in read- 
ing reports, and in generally clearing the decks for 
the South Brazil Mission meeting towards which 
we are now bound. At the end of the visit to 
Chile, it is impossible not to find oneself going over 
in memory the days spent there. The first days in 
Valparaiso we spent in getting adjusted, learning a 
dozen Spanish words so as to be able to express a 
little of the friendliness we all felt for the members 
of the national Church, who were so quick to re- 
spond to the slightest outgoing on our part. One 
afternoon particularly stands out in my memory, a 
joint meeting of the Liga of the three churches in 
Valparaiso. The Liga is the women’s organiza- 
tion which corresponds in some ways to the Ladies’ 
Aid Society, but is much wider in scope. There 
is a national organization, the president being the 
widow of one of the Presbyterian pastors, a most 
gracious and charming woman, who is working in 
connection with the congregation in Santiago 





THE CHRIST OF THE ANDES 


* Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than the people 
of Argentina and Chile break the peace which they have 
sworn to maintain at the feet of Christ the 
Redeemer” (p, 37). 





SOME CHILEAN MEMORIES 39 


which is the mother church of Presbyterianism in 
Chile. At this meeting, Mrs. Gillmore and I were 
very graciously welcomed, in English, by one of the 
women, and we told there a little about the work 
which women are trying to do in the churches in the 
United States. After the meeting, a group of the 
internas (the boarders) in the Normal School took 
me out in the patio of the church and taught me 
Spanish words. It is most interesting to have only 
nouns at one’s command. It makes it a little diffi- 
cult to express oneself! 

I remember also the dispensary at Valparaiso, 
where the mothers were so grateful and some of the 
babies so pitiful. I wish I could make you really 
see that roomful; the mothers look so tired and un- 
happy when they come in, and their faces brighten 
so after they have been talked to awhile, and while 
they are bathing the babies. 

Santiago to the deputation means hurrying to 
and fro, trying to see all the work in a short time, 
and never getting to bed till the small hours in the 
morning because nothing begins till ten o’clock. 

Dr. McGregor presented a medal the night of 
the commencement of Santiago College, the Meth- 
odist school for girls, which was a lovely affair of 
pretty girls in white and presentation baskets of 
flowers. 

The commencement of the Instituto Ingles was 
held the evening following that of Santiago Col- 
lege, and Dr. McGregor again presented a medal, 
this time to the boy who wrote the best essay on 
temperance. The prize for English declamation 


40 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


went to the boy who recited the story of the Prodi- 
gal Son. One of the most interesting parts of that 
evening was meeting a group of graduates of the 
school, some older and some younger, a fine group 
of young men. 

Santiago also means the morning spent in visit- 
ing the homes of our national pastors. The depu- 
tation has come to look upon them and their wives 
as real friends and we welcomed this opportunity 
to know them better. 

From Santiago we went down through the 
beautiful Central Valley, and one thinks of the day 
spent on the farm of one of the outstanding mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church in Chile, where 
we had the opportunity to see what the real life of 
the people is like as we drove over the farm and saw 
the houses of the workmen, and near by a village 
called Lo dellobo, literally “'That of the Wolf,” so 
called because the people live mainly by robbery. 
The man who was with us said: “ The people of 
that village are very religious. ‘They observe all 
the requirements of the Church.” ‘This seemed to 
us rather a startling statement in view of the name 
of the village. Still farther south through Talca, 
whose people are so proud of their town that in 
speaking of the cities of the world they say, “ Talca, 
Paris, London,” to Curico in time for the Sun- 
day-school Christmas entertainment on Christmas 
eve! The church was packed with an interested 
audience who listened to a well-prepared program 
and to each of the three “ deputationers.”’ 

At San Javier we changed missionaries, for it 


SOME CHILEAN MEMORIES 41 





became a joke in Chile that the deputation wore 
out a missionary in about five days! Sometimes it 
looked as if it were going to be the other way 
round! With Mr. Spining we went down to the 
most southerly part of our field, Concepcion and 
its outstations. 

All over Chile one is impressed with the diffi- 
culty of making an impression on a Roman Cath- 
olic community. As we watched the procession 
in Concepcion on New Year’s Day, we realized 
that to most of the people who took part in it, it 
was a matter of indifference as one could tell from 
the expression of most of those who walked in the 
procession. As this feeling grows on one, and the 
difference in the faces of the evangelical Christians 
is studied, one feels that all evangelical work in 
Chile should be strengthened, and that those work- 
ing in Chile must be reénforced not only by gifts 


but by prayer. 
Acie aR, 


CHAPTER VIII 
VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 


ALPARAISO means “ Vale of Paradise.” 

As we first saw the shore line and foliage of 

its beautiful suburb, Vina del Mar, in the soft light 

of a late evening in April, and in the clear air of the 

following morning glimpsed the wide arch of the 

open harbor and the gleaming white houses of 

the city, pyramided one upon another above the 

sapphire-blue Pacific, the name seemed well chosen 
and appropriate. 

The city claims a population of 180,000, with 
35,000 in Vina del Mar and 320,000 in the province 
of Valparaiso. In this city and province in 1873, 
the Presbyterian Church took over the Protestant 
work first founded by Dr. David Trumbull in 1845, 
under the Mission for Seamen, codperating with 
the American and Foreign Christian Union. As 
is related in Chapter X, Dr. Trumbull landed at 
Valparaiso on Christmas Day, 1845, and his first 
service was preached on board the steamer Missis- 
sippi in Valparaiso Bay on January 4, 1846. Asa 
result of his indomitable and indefatigable labors 
and of the services of those who followed in his 
steps, the Protestant movement, as represented by 
the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, is firmly 
established in this important city and port. To- 

42 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 483 





day there are three Presbyterian Chilean churches 
and Sunday schools there, with six chapels, five 
elementary and primary schools with an enrollment 
of over 750, a normal school for girls, a dispensary, 
an orphanage, and a union church for English- 
speaking residents, inspiring fruition and justifica- 
tion of that pioneer sacrifice and labor. 

The lower schools established by our Mission, 
known as escuelas populares or “ people’s schools,” 
which we visited first, were overflowing with 
throngs of happy children. The central school 
has an enrollment of 510. Nearly 200 boys and 
girls were turned away this past year for lack of 
room. ‘The four branch schools have an enrollment 
of 250, so that the total is over 750. ‘The aim of 
these schools is to provide instruction in the primary 
and elementary grades at a low cost to children who 
would not otherwise receive an education. The 
tuition is between three and five pesos, or thirty- 
five to fifty-five cents, a month. In Concepcion 
and Vallenar are other such schools. 

“In spite of the fact that a compulsory law has 
been in effect in Chile for more than three years,” 
says a Mission report, “the statistics show that of 
the children of school age almost half are not even 
enrolled and of those who are enrolled we know 
that many do not attend often enough or regularly 
enough to learn even to read and write. The in- 
spector of schools for the Province of Valparaiso 
frankly said, ‘We cannot enforce the new law 
because we haven’t school buildings enough, nor 
could we find the teachers if we had the buildings.’ 


4A MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





This applied to the city of Valparaiso, and how 
much worse the conditions are in the rural distriets 
can easily be imagined. If such conditions prevail 
now, it is not to be wondered at that the first mis- 
sionaries realized the urgent need of helping to 
educate the people and began the H'scuela Popular, 
the ‘ School of the People.’ 

“What Chile needs more than anything else is 
higher moral and religious ideals. The public 
schools do little or nothing to inspire them in the 
pupils, either by precept or practice. A small boy 
of about ten stood in the Escuela Popular and 
proudly announced, ‘I am a freethinker.’ He 
wasn’t, of course, but he wanted to be because he 
had heard some men use the words. How can we 
hope that the boys and girls will want to be Chris- 
tians unless we can give them moral and religious 
instruction and inspire them by the example of a 
Christian life? 

“There is no restriction on the teaching of the 
Bible in our schools and every day every child has 
a Bible lesson, either studying some portion or 
learning by memory selected parts. Every year 
we sell large numbers of Bibles and Testaments to 
the pupils. And who can believe that these boys 
and girls who learn to know the Bible by daily 
study will believe that it is a bad book or will oppose 
its-teaching when they grow up? 

“ Then, too, we have a responsibility to our Prot- 
estant communities. The boys and girls of our 
churches should be given a chance to study during 
the week in an atmosphere that cultivates rather 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 45 


than destroys the teachings they have received in 
the Sunday school and church services. 

“One of the strongest arguments in favor of 
such schools is the fact that they cost very little in 
proportion. No special building is needed because 
the room where evangelistic services are held can 
be used. A very simple, but at the same time 
efficient, style of furniture has been evolved and 
with very little equipment a school can be con- 
ducted without any disturbance of the other serv- 
ices. 'The teacher becomes an effective aid in the 
evangelistic work by interesting the children in 
attending the meetings. If she has learned to play 
the organ her cooperation is invaluable. 

“We look forward to the time when we can 
establish many of these schools, making the com- 
bination of school and chapel a center that shall 
win the people to the acceptance of the gospel. 
The supervision of the work would not be difficult, 
for the same course of study and the same plans of 
work prepared in the Model School in Valparaiso 
could be used in all the other schools and the teach- 
ers could be kept in touch with the central school 
by means of correspondence. A great many of the 
missionaries have had educational experience and 
they could help in the supervision.” 

Just across the street from the Model Escuela 
Popular, is the new building of the Normal School, 
a gift from the Sage Legacy of Mrs. Margaret 
Olivia Sage. Our Mission has worked out a 
comity agreement with the Methodist Mission 
through which this school will train teachers for 


46 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





both Missions and churches, and a Methodist school 
at Santiago will train nurses and deaconesses. 
Provision is made for reciprocal representation on 
the board of directors, and it is hoped eventually on 
the faculties of both schools. ‘There are eighty 
students in the Normal School, thirty-two being 
boarders, with six Chilean teachers and two Amer- 
icans. ‘This is the only Protestant normal school 
on the west coast of South America. 

Miss Cora M. Smith is the principal of the Nor- 
mal School, Miss Estella F. Daniel of the Model 
School, with Miss Ethel M. Jones, who has just 
reached the field, taking Miss Smith’s place during 
the latter’s furlough. Rev. Robert B. Elmore, in 
addition to his manifold duties as chairman of the 
executive committee of the Mission, is superintend- 
ent of schools in the Valparaiso district, and assists 
in many direct ways both in teaching and in secur- 
ing funds locally for the work. 

Mr, Elmore and I visited the Normal School and 
all five of the escuelas populares, met the teachers 
of all the schools, and attended a Bible class in the 
Model School where the children sang in appealing 
Spanish cadences a hymn with the air of “ Jesus 
wants me for a sunbeam,” and we read together 
the Twenty-third Psalm. These children need the 
guidance and the loving kindness of the Good 
Shepherd — “ much they need His tender care ” — 
and it was a joy to be with them and to see what 
the schools are doing for them. 

A baby dispensary represents another outstand- 
ing service being rendered by the Valparaiso Sta- 


‘(gf -d) aBeg vIAYC yourBaeyy ‘say JO AovSoy] oy} Wodz BLT wv ST Surpyimg SL 


OSIVUVdAIVA NI IOOHOS IVNUON STHID AHL 


























VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 47 


tion. ‘The reasons for beginning this service were 
well stated in a paper prepared for our Commission 
by Mrs. Jesse S. Smith: 

‘“ Medical work is a new departure in this field. 
The Chile Mission for some years has felt the great 
need for doing something along this line. We 
have found it impossible entirely to ignore the call 
to share in the responsibility of saving the children 
and of relieving the suffering mothers. Up to the 
present time we have not appealed to the Board 
for help but have made a small beginning with 
funds provided by friends on the field. ive years 
ago a baby clinic was opened in Valparaiso in con- 
nection with the local church. ‘Three years ago 
another was begun, in conjunction with the Meth- 
odist Episcopal missionaries in Concepcion, and 
two years ago the Santiago Station opened a third 
in a thickly populated district. The question may 
arise in some minds as to the advisability of our 
taking up medical work. The medical course pro- 
vided by the University of Chile is recognized as 
thorough, up-to-date, and efficient. This being 
true, the physicians are well prepared to attend to 
the medical needs of the country. But with all this 
we are convinced, for the following reasons, that 
we cannot longer stand aside and do nothing more 
to relieve the appalling condition of those who live 
round about us. While Chile has the highest birth 
rate in the world, she has also, by far, the highest 
child mortality. According to statistics only four 
out of every ten children born live to be two years 
old. This terrible child mortality is not due to 


48 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





climate but to other conditions which can _ be 
changed. Some of the causes are: 

‘1. Ignorance on the part of mothers. North 
Americans exclaim with horror at the food given 
by the Chilean mother to her baby. She knows no 
better and does the best she can with what she has 
until the child is dangerously ill, when she takes it 
to a doctor, if one is accessible, and if not, it prob- 
ably lives but a short time. Eiven when the doctor 
has seen the child, she knows very little about 
carrying out instructions given. In the majority 
of cases she does not know how to read and must 
get some one to interpret what she has received. 
Then many times, these women have a fear of the 
doctor and will not go to him, since he might order 
them to some hospital where they would be sepa- 
rated from their children. As a natural conse- 
quence, ignorance is one of the chief causes of 
mortality. 

“2. Malnutrition is another cause of infant 
mortality. The children of the poorer classes are 
usually undernourished, and we wonder, not at the 
high mortality, but that more do not succumb. A 
sick child nine months old is brought to a doctor. 
He asks the mother, ‘ What is given the baby?’ 
“A: little bread,’ she answers, ‘but mostly milk.’ 
‘What more?’ It is soon evident to the doctor 
that vegetables, meat, beans, and a little bit of 
everything has been given to the child. The 
proper food in the right quantities has not been 
furnished. 

“3. Poverty and environment contribute also 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 49 





to the present deplorable condition. ‘Tenement 
houses abound in the small towns as well as in the 
large cities. A building with from twenty to sixty 
rooms has a family in each one. Each family num- 
bers from three to ten members. ‘The mother is 
often the wage earner and has to leave the small 
children locked up in this room for hours at a time. 
Neither strength nor time are left for the proper 
care of the children. 

“4, Milk. ‘This most important factor in child 
nourishment is almost never obtained pure. Not 
until recently has it been possible to obtain steril- 
ized milk. But that is far beyond the means of 
the poor people. 

“5. Sanitation. The meaning of this word is 
not comprehended in the poorer districts, whether 
in a large city or a small town. Open sewers still 
abound. Germ-laden dust rises in clouds from 
every street. Horses and cows are stabled in all 
parts of the city of Santiago without the least atten- 
tion to cleanliness. Public markets, where fruit, 
vegetables, and meats are sold, have no protection 
against flies. 

“ We can only mention the most serious causes of 
infant mortality, such as drunkenness and the im- 
moral lives of parents. Anemia, rickets, tuber- 
culosis, venereal diseases are the children’s heritage 
from such parents. Granting the efficiency of the 
Chilean doctors, the several organizations at work 
in the interests of child welfare, and established 
dispensaries, yet all of these factors combined can- 
not cope with the present state. The public hos- 


50 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





pitals are full to overflowing all the time. They 
are greatly in need of funds and resort to lotteries 
and public collections in the streets to defray run- 
ning expenses. ‘The combined efforts of all agen- 
cies in the country are inadequate to meet the 
situation. 

‘Still another reason for our entering this field 
is better care for our Evangelical mothers. It is 
difficult for the poor people to obtain entrance to 
any hospital and this is particularly true in the case 
of our Church members. Even when admitted, 
they often suffer real persecution from the nuns 
and priests. ‘The demand for beds is so great that 
the patient often leaves the hospital too soon and in 
a short time the mother is in need of medical atten- 
tion. ‘The door is open to us to render loving, 
sympathetic, Christian service. 

“'The Valparaiso dispensary was opened for the 
purpose of bringing relief to babies and instruction 
to mothers in the care of their children. It is 
located in a slum district. Though begun on a 
small scale and carried on with a limited staff in a 
little room, the last report shows over 3,000 pa- 
tients treated within the year at an expense of 
about 8,000 pesos, or about $900. Doctors, nurses, 
and friends have contributed time and skilled labor 
to save as many babies as possible. ‘The dispen- 
sary 1s open two afternoons a week and disap- 
pointed mothers are constantly being turned away. 
A nurse is very greatly needed to direct this work.” 

Mrs. Garvin further describes the dispensary in 
action: 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 51 





“Year by year our dispensary is becoming more 
efficient and more of a necessity for the babies of 
one of the poorest and most thickly populated dis- 
tricts of Valparaiso, a city where the death rate 
among babies is 22.6 per thousand, as against 8.6 
in Buenos Aires. One of our assistants visits in 
the homes of the women who come to us one after- 
noon a week. We realize that more of this follow- 
up work should be done and we mean to manage it. 

“Would you like to see us at work? It is not 
quite half past one, half an hour before the dispen- 
sary is supposed to be opened, but as we come in 
sight of the building we see ten or more women with 
their babies standing on the pavement in front of 
the door. By the way they stand, one can see how 
tired they are. When asked why they come so 
early the answer of one and all is, ‘So that we 
shall be sure to have a number.’ The rule is that 
only five new ones are admitted at a clinic; in this 
group of ten there are seven babies who have been 
brought for the first time. The five mothers who 
arrived first smile contentedly, the other two are 
women who have brought other babies to us, our 
‘chents ’ as we call them. How can we send them 
back to their homes without even a look at the weak 
things hidden away under their mantos? We can’t. 
So the rule is broken, but as we say here in Chile, 
“Que vamos a hacer?’ Only yesterday when mak- 
ing out the admission sheets for a woman, we asked 
how many children she had had. ‘Seven,’ she re- 
plied. Then came the next question, “ How many 
are living?’ ‘The answer was, ‘ Three — the three 


52 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





youngest that I have brought here to the dispen- 
sary!’ This is one of the many heart warmers 
that we have. Not long ago a woman on the street 
greeted me most affectionately and when I inquired 
about the baby that she brought at one time to the 
dispensary regularly, she said: ‘Oh, I wish you 
could see her; she is so well and strong! I can 
never be grateful enough to the dispensary for the 
help I received when my husband was sick and out 
of work.’ 

“We try to limit the number at each clinic to 
fifty, but it is almost impossible; yesterday there 
were sixty-two. 

“Part of the time this year we have worked at 
a great disadvantage, for our nurse had to be away 
for nearly two months on account of a serious 
operation. A practical nurse, a member of the 
Valparaiso church, but with no training, took her 
place to the best of her ability. ‘The doctors who 
were assigned to us through our connection with 
the Chilean Baby Welfare Society, called ‘ Con- 
sultorios para Madres e Hijos, have been a great 
acquisition. Each doctor gives us, free of charge, 
an hour once a week. ‘The nurse, with her assist- 
ants, attends to the babies with minor ailments, and 
also to the giving out of food and clothing, the 
giving of baths, the weighing of the babies, and the 
preparation of simple remedies. ‘The very sick 
babies are either sent to the children’s hospital or 
kept for the doctor to see. Sometimes there are 
as many as fifteen or twenty babies in an after- 
noon to be attended to for rupture. I said to one 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 538 





woman, ‘ How was the baby ever left in that con- 
dition? Was it born at a maternity hospital?’ 
‘No!’ ‘Then some neighbor, I suppose, looked 
after you?’ ‘No, I took care of myself except for 
a little girl of eight who passed me a basin of warm 
water.’ I can picture the misery. Can you? 

“We have many friends in the community, 
Chilean, English, and American, who have been 
most generous in our support. Mrs. Elmore is now 
chairman of the committee, and Mrs. Edwards, 
whom we are glad to welcome to our midst, has 
charge of the buying, makes the ‘ Meyer’s food,’ 
and keeps the accounts. 

“Our crying need is for a trained nurse, a 
woman with technical knowledge and a big heart. 
God grant that the way may be opened to send 
such a one. She would be invaluable in the board- 
ing department of our H’scuela Popular, and in the 
work among the women of our churches, if the dis- 
pensary did not demand all of her time.” 

It was a touching sight to see the mothers with 
their babies waiting in line at the dispensary; to 
see the deftness and care with which their needs 
were met and the gratitude and relief that shone on 
the faces of the mothers as they departed. ‘ Oh, 
in what diverse pains they met: oh, with what joy 
they went away!” And it was inspiring to see a 
veteran of the service, like Mrs. Garvin, in her 
apron and cap, active and diligent despite her 
forty-two years in Chile, tending babies and moth- 
ers and doing two missionaries’ work at once! A 
blessed service is being rendered through this dis- 


54 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





pensary and the work there should become a reg- 
ular part of the work of the Mission. 

An orphanage, known as “The Sheltering 
Home,” established originally by Mr. and Mrs. 
Garvin, and maintained without subsidy from the 
Mission, through local gifts, is also rendering a 
service that only those who have lived in South 
America can evaluate and understand. 

All this institutional and social service has grown 
out of the original direct evangelistic work of the 
Church. We visited the main church, known as 
Saint Martin, and saw there the identical pulpit 
used by Dr. Trumbull over fifty years ago. The 
church is self-supporting and maintains preaching 
services and Sunday schools in three chapels on 
three of the numerous hills surrounding the bay, 
Mesilla, Membrillo, and Placeres. At Vina del 
Mar, the fashionable suburb of Valparaiso, and at 
Santa Inez, a less affluent district, are also churches 
which are both aiming at self-support. The en- 
rollment for these three churches in 1923 was 179, 
54, and 47; of their Sunday schools, 850, 130, and 
110. It should be said that the numbers on the 
church rolls have been diminished recently because 
of an earnest endeavor to remove from the lists 
those who are not active or bona fide members, and 
the totals given are honest records of the Presby- 
terian communicants of the city and suburban 
centers, 

The Union Church of Valparaiso, where Amer- 
ican and British and other English-speaking “ for- 
elgners’”” meet, has meant much to the moral and 


























PULPIT USED BY DR. TRUMBULL NOW IN CHURCH IN VALPARAISO 


“We visited the main church, known as Saint Martin, and saw 
there the identical pulpit used by Dr. Trumbull over 
fifty years ago” (p. 54). 


og 


= 

> al 
= 
. 


Liat 





VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 55 


spiritual tone of the community, and is a fine ex- 
ample of what such a church should be. The first 
Protestant church building in South America was 
one built by the Union Church in Valparaiso in 
1854, and the church has had an inspiring history. 

There is a rest house in Vina del Mar, on the 
shores of the bay, which represents the gift of Miss 
Valeria I’. Penrose, of Philadelphia. The mission- 
aries in South America need such facilities for 
change and recreation, facilities which most mis- 
sionaries in the F'ar East possess. The gift of Miss 
Penrose has been deeply appreciated, and we hope 
that others will be led to make a similar contribu- 
tion toward the efficiency and health of the mission- 
aries in South America. 

I had but a day and a half in Valparaiso, all too 
short a time in which to form any judgments of 
value regarding the work and its needs, but several 
points were obvious. In the Model School of the 
Escuela Popular and of the Normal School, there 
are 600 pupils enrolled; in the absence of one of 
the missionaries on furlough, the burden of the 
work of these two schools comes upon two women, 
although, of course, Mr. Elmore, in addition to his 
many other duties, gives them genuine assistance. 
But I think the question of the assignment of an 
additional missionary teacher might well be con- 
sidered by the Mission and Board. Further, the 
tuition fees might be raised somewhat without de- 
feating the ends of the schools, and with real results 
in strengthening their financial position. 

The work of the dispensary deserves to be an 


56 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





integral part of the Mission’s work. Of course, 
efforts should be continued to receive local gifts 
and subscriptions for property and current ex- 
penses, but if the work cannot be done efficiently 
with such help, a request for help from the churches 
at home would be justified. 

The record of membership in the three churches, 
which was compiled by Mr. Elmore and which 
shows the comparative figures for the past ten 
years, does not indicate so large an increase as 
might be expected. Further, the responsibility of 
the Valparaiso district extends beyond the city into 
the whole province, which measures forty by fifty 
miles and contains a population of 320,000 people. 
Mr. Elmore writes, “The province has many 
towns of importance, especially along the line of 
the railroad to Santiago, but up to the present these 
points have scarcely been touched by the Presbyte- 
rians.” I believe that if the Valparaiso missionaries 
and the city churches already established would 
throw out new and persistent efforts into this un- 
reached territory, the neighboring communities 
would be evangelized and the missionary churches 
would grow through the reflex power of this 
expanding service. The expense of such itin- 
eration may have to be borne by the Mission and 
some property additions made, such as a manse for 
the Valparaiso church, but the churches already 
established should put forth every effort to become 
entirely self-supporting, and doubtless can reach 
this status in the near future. 

Toward evening we climbed the little hill to the 


VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 57 


Protestant cemetery there. ‘The right of Protes- 
tants to burial in such a cemetery had been granted 
by the Government of Chile only after years of 
struggle and agitation. As described in Chapter 
X, Dr. Trumbull was the leader and champion in 
this just cause. His grave is there, and we went 
to it first. ‘The marble shaft that marks the grave 
is broken in half as a result of the last earthquake 
that visited the city, but the memory of this great 
and good man has outlived and will outlive any 
material monument to his character and career. 
The inscription is a fair and true summary of his 
life and work: 


MEMORIAE SACRUM 


Tue Reverend Davin Trumsuttz, D.D. 


Founder and Minister of the Union Church, 
Valparaiso. 


Born in Elizabeth, N. J., 1st of Nov., 1819. 
Died in Valparaiso, Ist of Feb., 1889. 


For forty-three years he gave himself to unwearied 
and successful effort in the cause of evangelical 
truth and religious liberty in this country. As a 
gifted and faithful minister and as a friend he was 
honored and loved by foreign residents on this 
coast. In his public life he was the counselor of 
statesmen, the supporter of every good enterprise, 
the helper of the poor, and the consoler of the 
afflicted. 


58 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





IN MEMORY OF 
HIS EMINENT SERVICES, FIDELITY, CHARITY AND 
SYMPATHY 
THIS MONUMENT 
HAS BEEN RAISED BY HIS FRIENDS IN THIS 
COMMUNITY 
AND BY CITIZENS OF HIS ADOPTED COUNTRY. 


The formal and legal recognition of the right of 
Protestants to be buried in their own cemetery was 
not given until August, 1883. But there are 
graves that are older than that, which were re- 
moved to this ground after its consecration. ‘There 
is a Slab in memory of the “ fifty-three officers and 
seamen slain on board the United States Frigate 
Essex, in the harbor at Valparaiso, Chile, in an en- 
gagement with H.B.M.’s Frigate Cherub, Febru- 
ary 28, 1814,” and to a lieutenant colonel of en- 
gineers, “ Don Jaime Charles, muerto glorisamente 
en defensa de Chile en el combate de Pisco” in 
1819. 

But the last graves we saw are the ones I remem- 
ber best. In a little family plot is the grave of 
Rev. James Francis Garvin, with the simple in- 
scription: “ Born March 8, 1854, Lima, Indiana, 
U.S.A. Died January 6, 1923, Vina del Mar. 
Beloved missionary in Chile for thirty-eight years.” 
On the right of his grave are the graves of a son 
and a grandson, both of whom died when they were 
three years old, one in 1892, and one in 1922; and 
on the other side is another little mound with a tiny 


fed) .. poyouye sy} JO Aaposuos oy} pure 


"(6¢ ‘d) ..aAvaB [eaquas 94} JO 9U0 195AR] ‘100d oy} JO aadpey oy} ‘astadaozua poos Aaoao 
Oo} AMOTEq ssoto AuTY B YY punouw 3001 V > jo aojz4oddns oy} ‘ususeyeys Jo aopesunod JUL, 5 


A 


SHAVYD NIAUVD AHL OSIVUVdGTIVA NI TINAWOAUL GIAVG “Ud AO HAVUD 




















VALPARAISO, THE “VALE OF PARADISE” 59 





cross below the larger one of the central grave. 
On the little cross was the name, “ Laura Artiga,” 
with the inscription in Spanish, “ Died in the Val- 
paraiso Sheltering Home, December 25, 1901, aged 
ten years,” and below: “ De los tales es el reino de 
los cielos,” ““ Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 

The little girl was one of the many orphans of 
Chile; she could look to no father or mother for 
care; she had been taken into the Sheltering Home, 
in whose establishment and maintenance Mr. and 
Mrs. Garvin had had such a large part. On 
Christmas Day she died; there was no one to claim 
her body; the Catholic authorities would not con- 
sent to burial in one of their own cemeteries. So 
Mr. and Mrs. Garvin offered a place in their own 
family plot, beside the grave of their infant son, 
and now the little cross stands near two other baby 
crosses and below the larger cross of Mr. Garvin’s 
own grave. 

“ Of such is the kingdom of heaven”; lonely 
orphan and loving missionary are welcome there; 
and through such love and devotion, in life and 
in death, the men and women and children of 
Valparaiso, of this darkly shadowed “ Vale of 
Paradise,” are entering into that Kingdom. 


Wok swia 


CHAPTER IX 
A SUNDAY IN SANTIAGO 


ONG before the sun had climbed over the 
mountains, which rose 17,000 feet along the 
eastern side of the great Chilean Valley, I woke to 
look out from my window over the city, over the 
chrome-colored tower of San Augustinas Church 
with its ancient bell, to the verdure-clad, rocky hill 
of Santa Lucia and on beyond to the great wall of 
the Andes. In the early morning before the smoke 
and dust, less in any case on Sunday, had risen to 
dim the air with haze, the huge, purple-brown 
mountain rising to the snow peaks of La Chapa 
and Las Amarillos stood forth sharp and clear, 
always and yet never the same. It was just time 
for early mass and I walked up to San Augustinas 
where a novena had begun and joined the little 
company in the great old church. 

An old flower woman was selling flowers at the 
door. The altar was as sadly gaudy as most of 
these South American church altars are. It was 
full of angels and tinsel and the center of it was 
covered with flimsy pink netting drapery which 
perhaps hid the crucifix. At any rate even the 
image of Christ was hidden and the one conspicu- 
ous figure was the Virgin and the Child Jesus at 
the top of the altar over all else. Perhaps a dozen 

60 


A SUNDAY IN SANTIAGO 61 





men and thirty or forty women and children were 
present, most of them faithful old women who came 
hurrying in and hurried out again. ‘The service 
over, I walked the two or three blocks farther to 
Santa Lucia and climbed up the steps and path- 
ways among the flowers and the eucalyptus trees 
to the tomb of Vicuna Mackenna, who was mayor 
of Santiago from 1871 for some years, with the 
monuments of the Indian Caupolican, the Arau- 
ecanian Hercules, below it and of Rafael Valentin 
Valdivieso, first Archbishop of Chile, just above. 
From the top one could look off in the quiet of the 
early Sunday morning over the wide-extending 
city. The Mapocho River ran between Santa 
Lucia and the near-by higher hill of San Cristobal 
crowned with its big figure of the Virgin with her 
light shining over the city by night. To the west 
were the hills of the Coast Range and eastward 
only a few miles away the calm, lofty barriers of 
the Andes. 

It was from this little rocky hill of Santa Lucia 
that, in 1541, Pedro Valdivia with his little band of 
150 Spanish soldiers threw himself down on the 
Indian warriors surrounding him and decided the 
fate of Chile. For many years the hill was only 
a place of refuge, with provision on one side for the 
burial of the foreign Protestant dead for whom 
there was not admission to consecrated ground. 
When in the seventies Vicuna Mackenna trans- 
formed the hill into one of the most beautiful 
adornments of the city these outcaste bodies were 
removed and a tablet was set up which we copied 


62 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





one day as we were clambering about. It was in 
Spanish and read: A la memoria de los expatria- 
dos del cielo y de la tierra que en este sitio yacieron 
sepultados durante medio siglo, 1820-1870. 


To THE Mrmory 
OF THOSE 
EXILES FROM HEAVEN 
AND EARTH 
WHo IN THIS PLACE 
Lay BuRIED 
For Har Aa CENTURY. 
1820—1870 


From Santa Lucia I came down to the near-by 
church or basilica of La Merced, one of the most 
popular and fashionable churches of the city. 
Again, it was Mary in full figure and crown who 
stood over the altar, but on one side was one of the 
terrible representations of the suffering Saviour on 
the cross, bleeding and torn, which make the heart 
sick with their gross realism. Beyond La Merced it 
was only a few blocks to the Plaza de Armas and 
the cathedral where the mass had begun as I came 
in. There were a dozen officiating clergy. The 
choir of small boys hanging over the rear gallery 
high above the floor sang the music beautifully. 
There were not more than two score worshipers. 
And again over the altar, crowning all other 
figures, was Mary. An American friend who has 
joined the Roman Catholic Church in Chile told me 


A SUNDAY IN SANTIAGO 63 


I should have come to the noon mass which would 
be crowded, but I could not do so and it is certain 
that in most of the churches I went by there was no 
noon mass at all. 

From the Plaza de Armas it was a comfortable 
walk over to the Alameda, the great, broad street 
that runs through the city from Santa Lucia to the 
Alameda Station. At the southern end not far 
from Santa Lucia is the old pink church of the 
Franciscans, built in the sixteenth century, where 
the principal figure on the altar is the little be- 
decked doll, a foot or two long, which was Pedro 
Valdivia’s Virgin and bequeathed by him to the 
church. On one side of the church in a glass case 
is a seated figure of the Saviour, thong-tied, thorn- 
crowned, bleeding, and terrible, and neither here 
nor in any other church in South America, except 
the Church of the Passionist Fathers in Buenos 
Aires, have we ever seen any symbol or representa- 
tion of the resurrection or the risen Lord. Not 
even in the great Easter service in the cathedral in 
Buenos Aires did we hear any real utterance of 
the triumph and joy of the resurrection day. 

Down the Alameda are the monuments of some 
of Chile’s great heroes and we stopped as we 
walked on toward the Union Church to read the 
inscription on the monument of Jose Miguel 
Infante, of Chile, the eminent publicist who headed 
the triumvirate which governed the land after the 
abdication of O’Higgins and gave Chile her Con- 
stitution: “‘ The righteousness of his character and 
the purity of his patriotism entitle him to the honor 
of posterity.” Near by was the great monument to 


64 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





O’ Higgins. On the one face was a relief of his 
enforced abdication, January 28, 1823, with these 
words, “ I despise death now as I despised it on the 
field of battle’; on a second face, a relief of the 
battle of Roble, October 17, 1813, and the words: 
“'To my children. Live with honor or die with 
glory ’’; on a third, of the battle of Maipu, April 5, 
1818, and “ I have now only one arm, but with it I 
will decide the fate of the Fatherland ”; and on 
the fourth, of the sailing of the four little ships of 
the squadron of liberation, October 9, 1818, and the 
words: “ On these four planks hang the destinies of 
America.” 

At Calle Nataniel, the corner of the Young 
Men’s Christian Association, we turned down to the 
red brick church with its bright rooms where the 
English-speaking union congregation worships. 
It is a church with a good and useful history. 
True Christian men of the British and American 
communities have here for two generations ex- 
pressed and nourished their faith. The names of 
some of these men upon whose uprightness and 
honor the good names of these communities have 
been built, were on tablets about the walls, but I 
sat down under a new bronze tablet with a purple 
wreath over it, inscribed in perpetual honor to 
those lads of the church “ who responded to the call 
of their country and of humanity, served as valiant 
soldiers in the Great Kuropean War, and perished 
gloriously on the field of battle that others might 
inherit and enjoy true liberty.” 

Sitting under the inspiration of that memorial 


“CL7 ‘d) ., plo s1eah Om} 2q 0} AAT] IY) UL Usap[iy us} AtoAd JO yno anoy ATUQ ,, 


ODVILNVS LV AUVSNAdSIG AAVA 








: 
7 ma 
Pe le 
yi 


es 


A SUNDAY IN SANTIAGO 65 





we listened to a good, true sermon by Mr. Wheeler, 
one of the secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of 
Foreign Missions, who also was visiting Chile, on 
Jesus Christ as the Saviour who died and lives 
again and is the Lord of our lives. We sang, 
“ Jesus, Son of righteousness, brightest Beam of 
love divine” and “O Jesus, I have promised to 
serve Thee to the end” and then came out into the 
beautiful Chilean autumn sun. ‘There surely is 
need of these union churches. It is appalling to 
see what a purely external and environmental 
thing the Christian religion is to many who come 
out to these countries from our churches at home. 
It is easier to lose them than it is to win new Chris- 
tians from the people of these other lands. 

In the evening as the mountains were glowing 
pink and purple in the sunset I walked back to the 
cathedral but it was silent and dark. La Merced 
was open but there was no service. At San 
Augustinas, however, a really good service was just 
beginning. ‘There was good music, in some of 
which the people joined, a long responsive litany, 
a reading from the Scriptures, and the sermon, 
short and earnest, and a hundred poor and simple 
folk who had come in got good from it if that came 
to them which came to me. Then the lights went 
out and I sat alone in the dim old church, wonder- 
ing how the good of all this could be preserved 
and its lack supplied and its errors be set right and 
its power be multiplied. How can the Church 
which bears His name really become Christ’s true 
Church? And God’s quest be met? For “ they 


66 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





that worship Him must worship in spirit and 
truth. ... For such doth the Father seek to be 
his worshippers.” Nowhere are our evangelical 
Missions engaged in a more legitimate task than 
here. 


Ress 


CHAPTER X 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION IN 
THE CAPITAL OF CHILE 


HE setting and environment in which the work 
of our Mission in Santiago is being carried on 
have been indicated in the previous chapter. 

The work includes all four of the recognized 
types of mission service: educational, medical, 
literary, and evangelistic. 

Education is represented by the Instituto Ingles, 
a day and boarding school for boys; and by the 
Bible Seminary, a union institution in which the 
Methodists codperate. ‘There is a dispensary, as in 
Valparaiso; and a paper store and bookstore, which 
represents also codperative work with the Method- 
ists. Finally there are four churches and Sunday 
schools, with national pastors and strong congre- 
gations. 

The Instituto Ingles is the only Protestant 
school for boys in Santiago. It was founded in 
Copiapo in 1874 by Samuel J. Christen; was moved 
in 1877 to Santiago; its graduates are to be found 
in positions of leadership and influence throughout 
Chile. The president of the Santiago Chamber of 
Commerce invited Dr. Speer and others of us to 
dine with him in his beautiful city home; over his 
desk was a framed diploma of the Instituto, and he 
spoke with gratitude concerning its training and 

67 


68 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





instruction. Dr. W. E. Browning, Educational 
Secretary of the Committee on Cooperation in 
Latin America, was for twenty years head of the 
Instituto: he built it up and made it a real force in 
the educational life of Chile. A little book pub- 
lished when he was principal of the school, called 
What the Old Boys Say, is convincing proof of 
the affection and loyalty of the graduates for their 
“Ingles” Alma Mater. 

“Tf I were asked what was the most striking 
characteristic impressed upon me during my time 
at the Instituto Ingles, I would answer that it was 
the homelike spirit that seemed to pervade that 
institution in every detail of its daily life. There 
was a deeply religious atmosphere, broad, health- 
ful, helping, and constant. At my old school I 
learned to appreciate the meaning of true manli- 
ness, courage, truthfulness, activity, and loyalty to 
duty; and I must frankly admit that I owe all these 
inspiring ideals to my Anglo-Saxon teachers. .. . 
It was through some of my teachers that I was able 
to plan my life and attain my present situation.” 


“Sweet but true—in these three words can 
be expressed my recollection and thought respect- 
ing my school days, which, I regret to say, passed 
all too soon. 

‘“ I cannot speak too highly of the courses I was 
taught at school; ... they laid the foundations 
for deeper studies afterward. But the Instituto 
did not only lay the foundation stones for my pro- 


‘(fio -d) arty jo yeqdes 94} UL SAOG LO} JOOYOS URYSoJOIg ATUO OU} ST sopsuy oynqzysuy 


"SHIONI OLOALILSNI AHL LV AVG LNAWAONAWINOO 





ODVILIN 


Ee ee 





“ - - 
ve ric 
s 
7 : 


reraegy pier? io) Y 
Sees ve at 


2 ~ # 7 
nA 
=|: bey ' 7 ’ 
ie . é 
ej 
~ 
: 
‘ 
we 
ow 
: 
7 a 
ou 
‘ . 
o he J 
f \ 
‘ a 
v ry * - ‘ 7 
7 i 





THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION ~ 69 





fession; it as well gave me a firm base on which to 
build my moral life. 

“1 will never forget the farewell hymn we sang 
before breaking up school at the close of my senior 
year, ‘God Be with You Till We Meet Again.’ 
A boy could not be sent off with better words ring- 
ing in his ears.” 


“T do not believe there is a school in Chile where 
so much importance is given to the moral training 
of the boys as in the Instituto Ingles, and the dif- 
ference between the average boy of other schools 
and of the Instituto Ingles is very noticeable. 
Business men have found this out long ago, and 
they have always preferred an Instituto boy to 
any other. 

“IT believe that the old school has become a neces- 
sity in Chile, more especially in view of the need 
of preparing honest and capable young men for the 
business world, and I am very grateful, and not a 
little proud, that I am able to consider myself one 
of your boys.” 


A change in the curriculum recently effected is 
described in the Mission Year Book (1923): 

“Hitherto the grade of the Instituto has been 
that of an American grammar and high school, but 
the desirability of aligning it with the Government 
schools of secondary grade, so that its graduates 
may be able to continue their courses in the state 
university, has been increasingly apparent. By 
vote of the Advisory Committee, therefore, the 


70 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





change has been begun this year, introducing the 
state course in the first and second intermediate 
classes, which are now known as the First and 
Second Humanities. It is proposed to continue 
this adjustment so as to bring the whole upper 
school into line as soon as possible. We have been 
assured by the prorector of the university, by the 
inspector of liceos, and by an influential member of 
the Council of Public Instruction, that the Govern- 
ment will grant us every facility for the carrying 
out of our plan.” 

The program of the commencement exercises in 
recent years indicates the standing of the school in 
the community. In 1922 the President of Chile, 
Sr. Arturo Alessandri, was the orator of the day; 
in 1923 the British Minister, Sir Arthur Grant 
Duff, presented the gymnastic prizes, and the 
American Minister, the Honorable W. M. Collier, 
delivered the principal address. At the 1924 com- 
mencement Dr. McGregor was the chief speaker. 

A mission résumé of the 1924 school year reads: 
“The present school year opened on Wednes- 
day, March 12. There was a larger number 
of applicants for admission this year than last, the 
number of Catholic families who came to inquire 
about terms of admission being very noticeable, as 
was also their failure to bring their boys when they 
learned that the school is frankly evangelical. Yet 
a great number of our new boys are from Catholic 
homes, some coming from priest schools, and even 
from the Academia de Humanidades (the second- 
ary school connected with the Catholic university). 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION’ 71 





A consistent effort was made to prevent the en- 
trance of boys of bad antecedents, and to admit 
only those who might be expected to respond to our 
efforts. Not less than thirty boys were refused as 
undesirables, on moral or scholastic grounds. The 
enrollment is 194 to date, of whom 74 are boarders, 
61 half boarders, and 59 day pupils. Withdrawals 
and changes during the year bring the figures down 
to 70 boarders, 63 half boarders, and 55 day pupils, 
making the total attendance on September 5, 188. 
This is 19 in excess of the total attendance on the 
same date last year. 

“In the midst of a busy matriculation day, the 
door opened and a splendid-appearing young man 
ushered his attractive wife and seven-year-old boy 
into the office. With a smile that lighted up his 
intelligent face, this gentleman, without preamble 
announced: ‘I am a graduate of the Instituto 
Ingles, and I am bringing you my little boy, in 
order that you may do for him what the school did 
for me fifteen years ago. I owe my moral and 
intellectual training to this school, and I want my 
boy to get what I received.’ The gentleman 
proved to be the manager of a growing importing 
concern, whose employers, the owners of the busi- 
ness, are also Instituto Ingles graduates. The 
number of lads whose fathers are graduates and 
former students of the Instituto is large this year 
and, as we should expect, seems to be increasing 
from year to year. We have had quite a few 
applications from Bolivians, but in almost every 
case they have desired work of college or university 


72 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


grade, and we have had to refuse them admission. 
We have adopted the rule not to admit any new 
pupil who is over fifteen years of age, unless he has 
very special qualifications and knows English. 
There are in the student body this year thirty-one 
boys from evangelical homes, of whom eight are 
sons of pastors.” 

The school owns a little more than an acre in 
what was once an attractive residential district of 
Santiago. Its buildings and equipment once sur- 
passed and set a standard for the other schools of 
the city. A swimming pool and outdoor gym- 
nasium are unusual features in a South American 
educational institution. But the city has grown 
away from the Instituto; factories are invading 
that section; the grounds are too limited for athletic 
fields and the recreational equipment required by 
the modern school; and the need for a new site and 
a new plant is clear, 

It has been customary for the Instituto to em- 
ploy short-term teachers from the United States, 
their salary and travel expenses being paid in gold. 
The income of the school is necessarily paid in 
Chilean pesos. Consequently, when there is such 
a radical shift in the exchange rate between the 
peso and the American dollar as occurred in 1920, 
and has continued since, the dollar bringing nearly 
twice the former number of pesos, or conversely, 
the price of a dollar being nearly doubled, the in- 
come of the Instituto being in pesos and a large 
proportion of its salary expenses being in American 
gold, the school has been hard hit, and has been 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION~ 7 





struggling to make ends meet during these past 
four years. 

This situation has been before the Mission and 
Board and it is clear that certain steps must be 
taken to meet it. A new site and a new plant 
should be secured; it is estimated that $40,000 for 
land and $150,000 for buildings will be necessary. 
A. site of approximately twelve acres in a good 
residential district was offered two years ago to the 
Instituto for 200,000 pesos (about $22,000) with 
the probability that the price might be lowered to 
180,000 pesos. ‘This offer came in the fall of 1923 
when the Board was facing a heavy deficit, and it 
was impossible to take any steps toward buying the 
land. This year it was sold for more than it had 
been offered for to the Mission. A committee is 
now on the lookout for another site, but it is prob- 
able that for ten acres, which is the minimum that 
should be bought, the Mission and Board will have 
to pay at least $35,000. It is clear that the school 
will also need an annual subsidy from the Board, in 
addition to the payment of the salaries of mission- 
ary teachers. The school has asked for 25,000 
pesos annually, about $3,000 at the prevailing rate 
of exchange. The wisest way to secure loyal and 
efficient teachers is to prepare students of the 
school who will come back as members of the 
faculty, thus doing away with the necessity of se- 
curing short-term teachers from the United States, 
who are expensive, not always adaptable, and usu- 
ally transitory. 

As large a proportion as possible of the funds 


74 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





needed for the new plant of the school are to be 
sought from the home Church in the Latin-Amer- 
ican Campaign scheduled for 1924-1925, and later 
through additional special efforts. Those who give 
toward this need can feel assured that they are 
giving to a Christian school which has had a long 
and honorable history, which is the only Protestant 
school for boys at the capital of one of the three 
chief nations of South America, and has now 
reached the parting of the ways, when help, prompt 
and generous, must come from the Church at home 
if the school is to go forward and realize the rich 
possibilities of service that he ahead. 

The recently elected head of the school is Rev. 
EK. G. Seel; Rev. A. W. Stevenson and Rev. 
George B. Dutton are the other two missionary 
members of the staff. This past year the short- 
term teachers have been Mr. EK. W. Wolfe, Mr. R. 
EK. Smith, and Mr. W. S. Wright. 

The Bible Seminary, representing eleven years 
of codperation between Methodists and Presby- 
terians in the training of ministers and evangelists, 
has just moved into its new quarters on Avenida 
Miguel Claro, in a residential suburb known as 
Providencia. Each Board has provided about 
$14,000 gold for the new property, which includes 
nearly an acre of ground and a handsome building. 
The original plans called for $3,000 more from 
each Board: one wing of the building which was 
to include the recitation rooms has not been com- 
pleted. It is hoped that both Boards will pay the 
additional sum of $3,000 originally requested, so 


~ 


Sty} UL eyetodgod soyounyo TeuO;RU oy} PUL sUOTSSIPY UPEIoyAQSotg puR ysTpoY}W ey, 


‘7z -d) Aavutuoes 


OSVILN VS 





NI AYUVNIWAS WIEIG AHL 


? 


eheeeae 188k ec eae 


mit tf 








THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 75 





the building can be completed. Last year there 
were eleven students in the seminary, seven Meth- 
odists and four Presbyterians. Rev. J. H. Mc- 
Lean is president of the institution; other teachers, 
some of whom give only part time, are Rev. G. F. 
Arms, Rev. A. EF’. Zimmerman, Rev. H. C. Stuntz, 
Rev. S. P. Hauser, Rev. Jesse S. Smith, and 
Senor Olivero Maufras. 

In the chapter on Valparaiso the general back- 
ground and reasons for maintenance of medical 
work have been indicated. Mr. Stevenson told us 
of an incident that occurred in one of his intiner- 
ating trips which had its amusing as well as its 
serious aspects. An elderly lady, a Church mem- 
ber in one of the towns he had visited, wanted him 
to procure some medicine for her. Mr. Stevenson 
was not certain just what her malady was, but 
promised to see a doctor when he returned to his 
home, who would prescribe some remedy. He de- 
scribed her symptoms to the doctor who, on the 
basis of Mr. Stevenson’s diagnosis, ordered a simple 
potion to be made up and sent to the invalid. 
Now there is a postal regulation in Chile that, ex- 
cept under certain limitations, no liquids are to be 
sent through the mail. ‘Those who send well-filled 
bottles disguise their contents by enclosing with 
them some material which will obscure the gurgle 
of the liquid. Loose shot is a favorable ballast and 
disguise for such bottles. The prescription was 
duly filled and was sent to the invalid, with its 
concomitant of B.B. shot. Later the elderly lady 
wrote Mr. Stevenson that she had been taking 


76 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





faithfully the medicine he had so kindly sent her, 
that the liquid had benefited her, but that the pills 
had given her indigestion! How she had consumed 
all those leaden pellets without fatal results was a 
mystery, but in any case Mr. Stevenson said that 
this incident was a clear illustration of the need of 
intelligent medical care in the rural districts of 
Chile. 

In January, 1923, a dispensary was opened in 
Santiago, which had been christened “ Madre e 
Hijo’ —“ Mother and Child” — Dispensary. 
The initial property was bought by Rev. J. H. 
McLean and the dispensary is known as the Louise 
McLean Memorial, in memory of Mrs. McLean, 
who died in Chile in 1918, after twelve years of 
service. 

“Our service is limited to mothers and to chil- 
dren up to three years of age,” says a Mission 
report. “ All sorts of diseases have been treated 
— sore eyes, wounds, hernia, rickets, anemia, ec- 
zema, bronchitis, pneumonia, indigestion,,and in- 
testinal troubles. At least half of the cases show 
traces of venereal infections. Our staff is composed 
of a superintendent (Mrs. J. S. Smith), one doc- 
tor, two nurses, a pharmacist and her assistant, a 
statistician, and a Bible woman. In addition we 
have some voluntary helpers who come regularly 
to bathe babies, assist the pharmacist in making up 
powders, label and cork bottles (all prescriptions 
must be made up the same afternoon), make 
bandages, take temperatures, wait on the doctor, 
and help with innumerable tasks. The doctor, 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 77 





nurses, and pharmarcist receive a very small re- 
muneration for their services. We owe no little 
debt of gratitude to American and English friends 
who have so faithfully and gladly given of their 
time, strength, and financial assistance. 

“It has been most gratifying to see the way in 
which the women respond to kind and sympathetic 
treatment. Most of them have a fear and dread 
of the doctor and expect, from their experience in 
the city hospitals, harsh words and a rough hand. 
Many most pitiable cases come to us, some of the 
babies reminding one of pictures of famine or- 
phans. It is no longer a shock to give a three- 
months-old baby its very first bath! The majority 
have some skin disease, some sign of bad blood — 
the innocent suffering for the sins of their fathers. 
It is to be hoped that some day in the not distant 
future we may have an evangelical hospital where 
our own people can be cared for and not suffer 
the inconvenience and persecution which they now 
have to undergo in the city hospitals, where nuns 
of the State Church are the only nurses, and all 
patients are obliged to go to confession. 

“This, the second year of the dispensary, 
Madre e Hijo, has been as interesting and full 
as the first year. It has been a year of continual 
answer to prayer, and proof of His readiness to 
provide even before we call. Sometimes at the 
beginning of the month there seemed to be barely 
enough in sight to meet necessary expenses, but 
-at the close of each month all bills have been can- 
celed, including emergencies, and a balance on 


78 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





hand. Friends have been provided and funds have 
been received, sometimes from most unexpected 
sources. 

“During the year we have received some sixty 
dozen articles of clothing from friends here and 
in the United States and we want to express our 
sincere gratitude to all who have responded so will- 
ingly and promptly to our needs. Careful distri- 
bution has been made of all clothing. In many 
cases new and better articles have been sold for a 
few cents as it is our belief that they are appre- 
ciated more, and the women have been happier to 
get garments which otherwise would be beyond 
their means. Without doubt we shall always need 
all the clothing that can be provided. We live in 
a most needy district; in almost every block in the 
community there are from one to three conventillos 
or cites. ‘These house from twenty to thirty fam- 
ilies, each one living in one or two small rooms. 
There are anywhere from three to eight children 
in most of these families. 

“The prevalence of venereal diseases is so great 
in this country that it seemed necessary at the be- 
ginning of the year to give injections. Senora 
Leiton, who has taken up studies with the Red 
Cross since her husband’s death, gives one after- 
noon and one morning to apply injections. One 
of the doctors gives one afternoon entirely to this 
department. Since November over 1800 injections 
have been given. 

“ During the year (1924) 4,600 cases have been 
treated, making an average of 889 persons a month, 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 79 


or about 45 patients a day. We are open eight or 
nine days per month. The running expenses for 
the year have amounted to 8,300 pesos, an average 
of 691 pesos per month, or 81 pesos a day. This 
makes the cost per patient each time a little over 
one peso eighty (about 20 cents). 

“Though only twenty or forty centavos are 
asked for consultation and prescriptions, this has 
amounted to 2,966 pesos during the year, or about 
250 pesos per month. At the present time the pre- 
scriptions are paying one third of the running ex- 
penses. As is readily seen, serious cases cannot re- 
ceive the proper medical attention with only two 
consultations a week. Our doctors are energetic 
and thorough. We hope as soon as possible to open 
three days out of the week as well as attend seri- 
ous cases in the homes at a nominal price.” 

The Mission Committee consists of Mrs. EK. G. 
Seel, Mrs. A. W. Stevenson, Mrs. G. B. Dutton, 
and Mrs. J. S. Smith. 

The American and British communities have 
been most helpful and generous in their support 
of the dispensary. A visiting engineer from Cali- 
fornia, Mr. J. G. Van Zandt, became so interested 
that he offered on behalf of his mother and family 
to give the funds necessary, $4000, to build a small 
maternity ward, where mothers could be given the 
care and medical treatment that they could not 
otherwise receive. ‘This ward is to be a memorial 
to a brother of Mr. Van Zandt and should render 
much needed service. 

Christian literature in Santiago is represented 


80 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





by the Heraldo Cristiano, a weekly paper in which 
both Methodists and Presbyterians unite, which 
prints an edition of 2,500; and a union bookstore, 
known as Hl Sembrador (“ The Sower ’’), the only 
place in Santiago where Bibles can be bought. The 
production and distribution of literature in any 
place is a process that is fraught with much toil and 
trouble, mental, spiritual, and financial, and nearly 
every one of the bookstores and papers in which our 
various Missions have had a part, have had their 
experiences with such vicissitudes. ‘The manage- 
ment of such enterprises requires a distinct flair 
and ability that not every missionary possesses. 
The Heraldo was in debt a year ago, but through 
the energetic and efficient efforts of Miss Florence 
EK. Smith and a timely appropriation from the 
Methodist Mission, at the suggestion of Bishop 
Oldham, the Heraldo now is on a solid financial 
basis with all debts cleared. ‘The bookstore has not 
as yet recovered from some of its difficulties, due 
partly to the unfavorable exchange, partly to too 
general credit being given, but with the addition 
to its managing staff of a Chilean who is an ex- 
pert in Spanish literature, and with reorganization 
and a clearing of a past deficit through special help 
from the home Church, it is expected that it will 
enter upon a new era of service. There is no ques- 
tion as to the need and opportunity before such a 
center for the distribution of Protestant literature, 
if the right men can be in charge and the right 
business methods followed in its administration. 
There are four churches in Santiago, known as 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION _ 81 





The Church of the Most Holy Trinity, the Church 
of the Redeemer, the Church of the Saviour, and 
the Christian Union. Their communicant member- 
ship is respectively 109, 130, 79, and 52. The 
Church of the Most Holy Trinity is the oldest 
Protestant church in Chile, having been founded in 
1868. Each church has a Sunday school, and most 
of them have Christian Endeavor societies and 
various clubs. Each of the four has its own national 
pastor. The budget of the Church of the Holy 
Trinity is 1,000 pesos a month, which includes the 
pastor’s salary. 

There were three burning questions before the 
Mission and deputation this past year: the ques- 
tion of the payment of a just salary to the pastors; 
the need and wisdom of the national churches’ as- 
suming a greater share in the responsibility, both 
administrative and financial, for spreading the 
gospel; and the need of wider itineration in out- 
lying districts of Chile, in which the missionary 
should take the lead. 

The depreciation in native currency in Chile and 
Brazil has been accompanied by a rise in prices, 
though this rise has not been entirely commen- 
surate with the decrease in the gold value of the 
peso. The pastors, whose salaries are paid in local 
currency, a large part of which comes from the 
Mission, have felt the pinch of the rising cost of 
living. The Mission appropriations to the national 
pastors are made in pesos, without regard to ex- 
change, and when the peso’s purchasing power is 
cut almost in half, and the appropriation is not 


82 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





increased, the results are obvious. ‘There was no 
question that some of the pastors were not receiv- 
ing a living wage. ‘The remedy is either in the 
Mission’s increasing its appropriation or the na- 
tional churches’ increasing their gifts towards self- 
support. When the value and price of local cur- 
rency 1s decreased, the expense to the Board of the 
native-work classes in Chile is of course less, the 
appropriation last year in gold being about half 
the amount necessary in more normal years. A 
sliding scale of appropriation from the Board has 
been discussed, which would vary with the exchange 
and would appear to be fair both to the national 
pastors and to the Board. ‘There is much to be 
said in favor of such an arrangement in Chile, as 
of appropriation for these classes in gold, instead 
of in national currency, as long as the present situa- 
tion exists, with its continual fluctuation in local 
currency values. But for various reasons, it was 
decided at this time to make a lump addition to the 
appropriations for the Mission, from which the 
salary of the national workers might be increased, 
and also the point was made with clearness and 
emphasis that the national churches should be ex- 
pected to take over an increasingly large share of 
their own self-support; that as long as the churches 
depended chiefly upon North American support, 
they were not firmly rooted in Chilean soil, and 
could not stand in their own strength, if for any 
reason North American subsidies should be with- 
drawn. 

The same argument does not apply so much to 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION _ 88 





property needs. Some of the churches have been 
trying to buy from the Mission the church build- 
ings erected for them by Mission funds. I do not 
believe that they should be expected to do this. I 
think that we should do more to help them to pos- 
sess buildings of satisfying and attractive archi- 
tecture and proportions; but that after the prop- 
erties have been made available, the national 
churches should be expected to maintain them and 
the work they represent. Chile, like other South 
American countries, needs capital: our Church in 
the United States has the means, and the will, if 
it knows the need, to furnish such capital, not for 
its own ends but as a free gift to the extension of 
Christ’s gospel; our Church should give more for 
such property needs, and the Chilean Church should 
give more for the current cost of its work. One of 
the reasons the Young Men’s Christian Association 
has become so quickly indigenous in certain lands 
is because it follows the principle of Americans’ 
furnishing capital for plant and equipment, and of 
nationals’ furnishing funds for current expenses, 
with administrative control deservedly in the hands 
of the latter. 
W.R. W. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION IN THE 
CAPITAL OF CHILE 
(Continued) 


HE third problem before the Mission, that of 

the need of wider itineration and of a change 

in evangelistic method, is indicated by a statement 
in the Mission Year Book, published in 1924: 

“In the distribution of mission work in Chile 
between the two principal societies codperating — 
Methodists and Presbyterians — the great Central 
Valley, from Santiago to Concepcion, has been 
allotted to our Church. 'Twenty-seven provincial 
capitals of Departments, not including Santiago 
and Concepcion, are easily accessible by rail in this 
section. The smallest of them have populations 
approaching 10,000 and the largest 40,000, and 
all are centers for a large adjacent rural district. 
In this territory, which is exclusively Presbyterian, 
we have eight organized churches, in Rancagua, 
San Fernando, Curico, Talea, San Javier, Par- 
ral, Chillan, and Yungai, and this year have opened 
work in Rengo, Linares, and San Carlos. But 
sixteen other provincial capitals still await the first 
preaching of the gospel.” 

There are eleven ordained missionaries in Chile 
and fifteen ordained pastors. ‘The communicant 
membership after over fifty years of effort is ap- 
proximately 1,200. Of course, there are various 

84 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION _ 85 





reasons for this seeming disparity between effort 
and result, and the influence and power of the 
Protestant movement in Chile cannot be measured 
by such mathematics. But there is justification 
also for a change in method and principle, and 
these changes were incorporated in Mission action 
during and after the visit of the deputation, as 
follows: 

“ After discussion and consultation with Dr. 
Speer, it was moved and carried that the policy 
of the Mission be changed so as to make the 
churches and unorganized groups more nearly self- 
supporting and independent; that the work of these 
churches and groups should be under the direction 
of presbytery rather than of the Mission; that the 
missionaries should give themselves more to the 
work of opening up new fields; and that all funds 
available for the national Church should be admin- 
istered directly by presbytery instead of by the 
Mission. The final form and details are to be 
worked out in union meeting with the national 
workers and are to be effective for a period of three 
years.” 

The following plan of work was later agreed 
upon between the presbytery and Mission: 


I. Organization 


1. The presbytery will assume responsibility for 
all the churches and the work of evangelization 
already under way. 

2. This work shall be directed by an Adminis- 
trative Committee named by presbytery; two mem- 


86 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





bers shall be missionaries, as long as this work is 
sustained in part by the Mission, two, Chilean min- 
isters, and two, elders. ‘The committee shall have 
its own treasurer. 

3. The Mission will share with the presbytery 
responsibility for new evangelistic work and for 
religious education; and will allocate for this as 
many missionaries as possible, whose residence 
shall be determined by the Mission in agreement 
with the Adminstrative Committee. 

4. The help of missionaries not so assigned may 
be solicited for the evangelistic work; and may be 
granted to individual groups and churches. 

5. The Administrative Committee shall divide its 
field into circuits and name superintendents for 
them. 

6. The presbytery may employ as many evan- 
gelists as its resources may permit to organize and 
develop groups without pastors, with the under- 
standing that the aim shall be to develop the work 
as far as possible without financial help, and not 
to employ evangelists as pastors of small groups 
or congregations that are not yet self-supporting. 

7. Bible women shall be under the direction of 
presbytery, and may be assigned as special helpers 
to groups and churches. 

8. Students for the ministry shall be named and 
maintained, if necessary, by the presbytery, and 
shall do such evangelistic work as the Administra- 
tive Committee may indicate. But the adminstra- 
tion of the seminary shall be in the hands of the 
Mission, 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION — 87 





II. Administration 


9. The programs of the six Promotional Com- 
mittees appointed by the presbytery in January, 
1925, shall be developed as rapidly as possible. 

10. Missionary and national evangelists shall 
itinerate constantly, visiting organized groups 
and establishing new groups with the proper 
leaders. 

11. Groups shall be organized as churches by the 
presbytery as soon as possible, and shall then be 
under its care. 

12. Periodic conferences shall be held for 
pastors and national evangelists, under the direc- 
tion of missionary and national evangelists. 

13. Each superintendent shall make a personal 
monthly report to the Administrative Committee. 
Each pastor shall report monthly to the commit- 
tee on the advance evangelistic work done (see 
paragraph 15). Evangelists and Bible women 
shall report monthly to the superintendents. 

14. Each group and church is expected to con- 
tribute regularly to self-support according to its 
ability. When the contributions of a group reach 
fifty per cent of the standard salary of a minister, 
this group may solicit of the committee that a min- 
ister be assigned to it. Churches already existing 
may solicit a minister when their contributions 
reach forty per cent of the standard salary; but 
no new church may do so until its contributions 
reach fifty per cent. 

15. Any minister in a church that is not yet self- 


88 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





supporting shall give that part of his time not cov- 
ered by the contribution of the church to general 
evangelistic work under the direction of presbytery. 

16. Presbytery may solicit of the Mission a sum 
not exceeding 100,000 pesos annually to supple- 
ment the contributions of the churches and groups. 

17. The Mission will pay nothing directly to any 
pastor or church, but will make monthly payments 
to the Administrative Committee. 

18. That part of the Mission’s subvention which 
is used for churches with ministers but not yet self- 
supporting, shall be reduced annually by ten per 
cent, until the churches reach entire self-support. 


III. Properties 


19. Congregations shall have free use of the 
Mission’s buildings which are used for church serv- 
ices, but the titles of the properties shall remain 
for the time being in the name of the Union Hvan- 
gelica. ‘The Mission will help in securing new 
buildings. 

20. The Administrative Committee may rent 
from the Union Hvangelica such manses as it may 
have available. Dwellings in connection with day 
schools shall be under the care of the director of the 
school. 

21. The superintendents of circuits named by 
the presbytery through the Administrative Com- 
mittee shall be responsible for maintaining the 
church buildings in good condition; and shall pre- 
sent to the Building and Property Committee of 
the Mission detailed statements of sums exceeding 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION _ 89 





fifty pesos which may be needed for the repair of 
these buildings within their respective circuits; any 
such sums shall be spent under the direction of the 
Building and Property Committee. It is expected 
that the church which receives the benefit will also 
bear a proportional part of the expenses. 

22. This plan for the work shall be effective for 
three years, after which period it may be revised 
and modified as circumstances may indicate. 


A letter dated June 20, 1925, to the members of 
the Mission, from Mr. Elmore, Chairman of the 
Executive Committee, concerning this new plan, 
contains the following clear comment: 

“You will see by the minutes of the meeting of 
the Executive Committee that the new arrange- 
ment with presbytery does not remove the repre- 
sentative of the Mission in each Station from a 
direct cooperation in all that is going on in his 
Station. He is not the supervisor but the counselor 
and helper of each Chilean worker in his Sta- 
tion. . .. The missionaries have a chance now, 
such as they have not had before in our day. By 
the power of example and inspiration we can set 
up a new standard among our workers. 

“Tt is a stern but an evident truth that the suc- 
cess or failure of the new plan depends not on the 
Chileans but on the missionaries. ‘The new plan 
gives more responsibility to the national workers 
but it also increases that of the missionaries. If 
the Chilean pastors see that the missionaries are not 
doing anything more than before or that they are so 


90 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





occupied in other things that they have no time for 
new evangelistic work, they will not feel the need 
of activity on their part. But if they can see in 
the missionaries an example of activity, interest, 
enthusiasm, and successful methods, they too will 
be carried along by the current of new life.” 

The advice and counsel of Dr. Speer, with his 
intimate and broad knowledge of Mission develop- 
ments in all parts of the world, were invaluable in 
the framing and putting into effect of these new 
principles of codperation and evangelistic extension 
in Chile. 

Santiago is the chief student center on the west- 
ern coast of South America, for both Protestant 
and Government schools, and the Mission has been 
fortunate in having a representative, Rev. J. H. 
McLean, who has been appointed a professor in 
English in the 'Teachers’ College of the University 
of Chile, with over 1,200 students enrolled, and 
who, through these contacts, can reach the students 
of this important Government institution. The 
Young Men’s Christian Association and Young 
Women’s Christian Association are doing good 
work in Santiago; several of the directors are grad- 
uates of the Instituto. The Associations provide 
opportunities for serving the students who could 
not otherwise be reached. 

Santiago is the headquarters of the work of our 
Mission and Church, and the general offices of the 
Presbyterian Church of Chile are housed with the 
offices of the Methodist Church in the top floor of 
a down-town building. This office was organized 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 91 





early in 1923. Miss Florence EK. Smith is in 
charge, assisted by a committee of Chileans, 

“The first undertaking under the new régime 
was an evangelistic campaign through our south 
field before the winter rains set in. Three mem- 
bers of the committee, all pastors of Santiago 
churches, visited eight of the southern churches, 
and with the assistance of the various evangelists 
held two evangelistic meetings in each place. 
They returned brimming over with enthusiasm and 
reported a goodly number of decisions for Christ. 

“ In continuation of the study courses followed 
by the various women’s organizations last year 
under the auspices of the New Era, the general 
office has prepared and sent out monthly studies on 
Character Building in Childhood, being an adapta- 
tion and translation of a book published by the 
National Welfare Association in the United States. 
These studies have been taught by missionary 
women and pastors’ wives in the different churches 
all over the country. ‘The studies for last year 
have been published in book form as a Handbook 
for Mothers, and have met with considerable ac- 
ceptation outside of evangelical circles. The 
superintendent of domestic science in the public 
schools of Santiago has put them into the hands of 
her teachers as a book of reference, and 1s also using 
the charts published last year for the Baby Wel- 
fare Campaign. An order for fifty handbooks for 
the public schools in the North has also been filled, 
and representatives of the National Red Cross and 
various créches have become interested. Orders 


92 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





have also been received from Argentina and Colom- 
bia. Mr. Inman, during his visit to the Pan- 
American Conference, ordered one half of the 
edition of one thousand to be sent to Mexico, 
Porto Rico, Cuba, and New York, together with 
one third of a new edition of the baby charts, 
specially prepared for other countries. Other 
publications have been a book for girls, La Nina 
Buenamoza, and the third and fourth numbers of 
studies for Young People’s societies, the latter in 
conjunction with the Methodists. 

‘Based upon information received through a 
questionnaire sent to all the Women’s Leagues in 
the different churches, a model constitution was 
prepared with the object of securing some con- 
formity among them, which has been adopted by 
nearly all, thus preparing the way for the organiza- 
tion of a National League of Presbyterian Women. 
This was accomplished on September 11, 1923, with 
a very full representation of the women’s organiza- 
tions in Santiago. Since then the other organiza- 
tions throughout the country have expressed their 
allegiance to this movement. Its object is to extend 
the scope of women’s activities in each congrega- 
tion, and to engage them in work for the commu- 
nity, as well as the upbuilding of their own intellec- 
tual and spiritual life. 

“'The General Office serves as headquarters for 
the Missionary Library, the Library of National 
Workers, the Lantern Slide Committee, a Statis- 
tical Bureau of the Presbyterian Church in Chile, 
and a place of meeting for the Administrative and 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 98 





Executive Committees and the regular Workers’ 
Monday Morning Prayer Circle.” 

At the meeting of the Mission, held with the 
Board deputation, the property needs for the next 
few years were studied and agreed upon. The full 
list is given in Chapter XVI. After his visit in 
1909, Dr. Speer wrote of the property situation: 

“The Board has invested very little money in 
property in Chile. The only large appropriations 
which have been made have been for the Instituto 
Ingles property, and a good part of that has been 
provided by the school’s own earnings; for the 
Valparaiso church building and residence when the 
earthquake damaged it while in course of building; 
and for two or three chapels. The Mission has 
been left, accordingly, to work out its own require- 
ments, and it has done well with the ingenuity and 
economy enforced by cruel necessity.” 

Since that report was written, the Mission has 
received $5,000 from Mrs. C. P. Turner for the 
Central H’scuela Popular; $30,000 from the Sage 
Legacy grant for the Normal School, and $14,000 
for its share of the building for the Bible Seminary. 
But there are certain imperative needs that should 
be met in the near future. The Instituto Ingles 
needs a new plant, as has already been indicated; 
this will require upwards of $150,000. It is hoped 
that Mr. Seel and Mr. Stevenson during their stay 
in the United States can help to secure this sum. 
The Church of the Holy Trinity should have an 
attractive and satisfactory building, and $25,000 is 
needed for this purpose. ‘The Mission has voted 


94 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





to build four manses for the national pastors at 
$1,500 each, and these should do away with extor- 
tionate rents for unsatisfactory and -unhygienic 
residences. Property for a chapel and social hall, 
which will cost $500, is needed in Concepcion. 
Additional needs for future growth are given in 
Chapter XVI. 

Of one need, which the Mission did not empha- 
size, I should like to speak: this is the need for 
residences for the missionaries themselves. In 1925 
there were thirty-one missionaries in Chile: eleven 
married couples, five single women, four single 
men. With three exceptions, the single women and 
men are housed in the schools. For the whole mis- 
sionary force there are only three missionary resi- 
dences in all Chile. The house in Valparaiso is 
untenable and the one in Santiago is almost so, so 
that there is really but one livable residence in Chile 
which has been furnished by the Board. Some 
British friends of Mr. and Mrs. Garvin in Val- 
paraiso felt their lack of adequate housing so keenly 
that they gave the funds themselves for a decent 
residence, stipulating that it should be available as 
long as Mr. and Mrs. Garvin were stationed there. 
Since Mr. Garvin’s death, Mrs. Garvin has been 
living in what is really a made-over garage. The 
former basis of appropriations, whereby mission- 
aries’ rents were paid from the same class of appro- 
priations as were the funds for the native work, 
prevented missionaries who were conscientious from 
asking for sufficient grants for rent for adequate 
houses; this system was rightly changed in 1922 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 95 





after the Post War Conference actions were ap- 
proved, so that missionary rents and native work 
appropriations are now kept separate; but the sys- 
tem that implies that funds for new property will 
be provided only as the Mission lists items in the 
order of their urgency also means that residences 
will not be built as rapidly as they are needed, as in 
a choice of items the missionaries will invariably put 
first the needs of the work. Recently the Board 
instructed the Missions to place any required resi- 
dence at the top of their preferred list of new 
property; in addition, special effort should be made 
to inform the Church of such needs, and to ask for 
the funds needed to meet them. 

Three members of the deputation, Dr. Mc- 
Gregor, Mrs. Gillmore, and Miss Reid, spent six 
weeks in Chile, arriving December 1 and leaving 
January 16. They met with the Mission at its 
annual meeting, and later with the Presbytery. 
Dr. Speer had thirteen days, and I had eight days 
in Chile in April, both of us attending the special 
meeting of the Mission, and Dr. Speer taking part 
in the regional conference held in Santiago follow- 
ing the Congress at Montevideo. We brought 
back with us a beautiful flag of Chile presented to 
the Board and home Church by a delegation of 
Chilean pastors. We were glad to receive this 
banner as a gift to the home Church, and as a re- 
minder of the half century of life and service of a 
sister Church in a southern land. The colors of the 
flag are truly representative and symbolic. The 
white recalls the snowy peaks of the Andes; the 


96 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





blue, the broad reaches of the Pacific at their base; 
the red, the hearts’ blood of men and women who 
are putting their lives and souls into the task of the 
Mission and the Church of Chile. 

The Chile Mission held a special meeting from 
April 16 to April 21. Dr. Speer, Mrs. D. J. 
Fleming, and I were present as representatives of 
the Board. ‘The memory of those days together 
will not soon fade away. ‘The Chile Mission is 
blessed with a spirit of unity and of love that is at 
once perceptible and that means much to the suc- 
cessful and happy fulfillment of its task. The 
various committees had worked earnestly and 
effectively in the preparation of statements and 
reports for the use of the deputation. Each session 
of the Mission meeting was closed with a half-hour 
devotional service. Dr. Speer spoke at these meet- 
ings. He had recently been voted one of the twenty- 
five greatest preachers in our country; as he stood 
muffled in his overcoat, in the cold, unheated rooms 
of the Instituto, with lines upon his face and indi- 
cations in his bearing that told of the responsibility 
and anxiety of carrying through the sessions of the 
Montevideo Congress and of meeting the be- 
sieging demands which had been made upon his 
time and energy all along the way from New York 
to Santiago, I thought how different was that scene 
compared to the setting of other meetings in other 
places, in the homeland, before affluent and com- 
fortable congregations, or in the great conferences 
of Northfield and Asilomar and Silver Bay. A 
little group listened to him: men and women who 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION’ 97 





had given their lives gladly to the work, who had 
left all to follow the call of the Christ across un- 
known lands and seas; men and women with the 
frailties of all human kind, and yet with a nobility 
of purpose and of soul that shone in their faces and 
that set them apart as missionaries and heralds of 
the cross; men and women with the sears of battle 
upon them, one with forty-two years of. service, 
whose husband last year had been with her, but who 
was now left alone; new missionaries, who had just 
come fresh from the homeland, with something still 
of its eagerness and buoyancy in their bearing and 
smile. But no audience in the United States drank 
in more thirstily the words of the speaker than did 
that little group on the South American frontier, 
and never had we heard Dr. Speer speak more 
movingly and inspiringly than there. He spoke of 
some of the helps to efficient missionary service; of 
daily Bible study that fertilizes and clarifies the 
minds of all who read; of the light that kindness 
and love throw upon the path; of missionaries as 
being in a true sense individuals with an “assign- 
ment,” men and women sent from God, whose 
names are known and recorded; of the creative and 
limitless power of the resurrection of Christ, the 
power of God that raised Christ from the dead, and 
could raise anyone to-day from the death of weak- 
ness and sluggishness and apprehension into new 
life and conquering power in Him. 

We had all been waiting eagerly and somewhat 
anxiously for the cabled report of the end of the 
Board’s fiscal year which closed on the thirty-first 


98 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





of March. The year before a great deficit, like a 
vanishing cloud, had been rolled away. This year 
the cloud might come again. And if it came, the 
cherished hopes of expansion, of growth, of ad- 
vance in service in Chile and in the other Missions, 
would be thwarted and quenched. After Dr. 
Speer had finished his last address on the closing 
day of our meeting, and after Dr. Fleming had led 
in prayer, as if in answer to our prayers and in 
confirmation of the final message concerning the 
miraculous power of the resurrection, a cable was 
received from the Board in New York, saying that 
the fiscal year had closed without a deficit and with 
a moderate surplus that could be applied to new 
property. Later came the word that 50,000 pesos, 
or about $5,500, had been appropriated as an an- 
nual addition to Chile’s needs, with special view to 
the needs of the national pastors and school-teach- 
ers. Some one started the doxology and we all 
sang from our hearts, “ Praise God from whom all 
blessings flow.” ‘Then Dr. Speer led in a final 
prayer, thanking God for His goodness and bounty 
that had exceeded our faith and our hopes. 

As I had to make the trip to tropical Brazil, and 
the time was limited, I left Santiago that afternoon 
for the return journey across the Andes and 
Argentina. The missionaries came to the train 
to say good-by. Mr. Spining was there. He and 
I had stood together in the pulpit of the Union 
Church in Santiago on the preceding Sunday, the 
first Sunday after Easter. We had noticed that 
he had been failing in health and strength. He 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 99 


was disappointed because Dr. Speer and I could 
not visit Concepcion and the great valley of Chile. 
As he said good-by he spoke softly, almost under 
his breath and half to himself, ““ Well, you haven’t 
seen the Central Valley of Chile: but it is there 
just the same!” I knew what was in his heart and 
mind, his longing that the needs of that great val- 
ley should be understood and should be met and 
that Christ should be proclaimed there as well as 
in port city and capital. The next day Mr. Spin- 
ing became seriously ill: two weeks later, on May 5, 
he was taken away. But his final words echoed 
and reéchoed in my ears; our prayer and our 
effort will be that these words shall continue to 
sound throughout the Church in Chile and in 
America until the needs are met and until the final 
hope and dream of this true missionary and of 
those who follow in his train have been fulfilled. 


Ween wi 


CHAPTER XII 
AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 


HE only artificial boundary of Chile is the 
northern, which from the days of the Inca 
Yahuar Huaccac, who gave a daughter and a niece 
in marriage to two chiefs of Chile, until the date of 
the arbitral award of President Coolidge (1925) 
has been a bone of contention. The old Inca high- 
ways extended through the Atacama Desert as far 
south as Copiapo, and there are evidences that this 
domain included the Central Valley of Chile to the 
banks of the River Maule, for there are traces of 
routes which mark the outthrust of the Inca’s power 
as did the roadways of ancient Rome. Chile ex- 
tends from the eighteenth degree south latitude to 
the fifty-sixth, nearly 2,700 miles, and the Antarctic 
Sea is all that hes between Cape Horn and the 
South Pole. 

There have never been many inhabitants in the 
extreme polar regions of the South — only a few 
Indians, whose customs were so crude and primitive 
as to induce Darwin to set them lowest in the scale 
of human beings. On the wooded slopes between 
the Andes and the sea the Indians lived in com- 
parative plenty. Magellan, who discovered the 
straits which bear his name, in 1520 saw but little 
of the aborigines. Their first contact with the 
white man came in 1535 when Diego Almagro, 

100 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 101 


after the Pizarros had exhausted the booty of 
Cuzco, was fitted out by them for an expedition of 
discovery. ‘Their plan was to rid themselves of a 
dangerous rival by supplying Almagro with a new 
field for adventure. His original force consisted of 
500 Spaniards and 15,000 Peruvian Indians. In 
1536 he returned with 156 Spaniards and 5,000 
Indians, after having traversed the deserts of Ata- 
cama and Tarapaca. The coast Indians were 
friendly but the Araucanian tribes opposed his ad- 
vance at every step. 

There was no actual conquest of the Araucanians 
by the Spaniards. ‘Those native tribes which had 
submitted to the Inca régime accepted the Euro- 
peans: those who had defied the Inca continued to 
defy the Spanish. The Spanish settled Chile in 
1541, organized a social system, built cities and 
defenses, cultivated the soil, contributed blood and 
culture, created a nation; but South Chile was 
never conquered in the same sense that Mexico and 
Peru were subjugated by the Spanish. 

In 1541, Captain Pedro de Valdivia, thirty-five 
years old, a campmaster of Hernando Pizarro, ob- 
tained a commission to explore Chile, a land of 
poor repute since the return of Almagro. Having 
been appointed lieutenant governor he raised with 
difficulty 200 Spaniards and 1,000 Peruvian In- 
dians, and, avoiding the Andes, crossed the coastal 
deserts, arriving at the end of the same year in the 
Valley of the Mapocho. He intrenched himself 
in the rocky hill of Santa Lucia and in 1541 gave 
the province about this tribe the name of Santiago. 


102 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





The fierce Araucanian Indians attempted to des- 
troy every settlement of the invader but he grad- 
ually extended his fortresses in a chain southward 
until he was occupying Arauco on the sea, Villarica, 
Osorno, Angol, and the entire forest region of the 
extreme south. ‘The Araucanians refused to ad- 
mit defeat by the foreigners. Led by Caupolican 
and young Lautaro, they organized their people, 
adopting certain military tactics they had learned 
from their Spanish foes, and began a series of re- 
lentless, systematic raids of destruction. Valdivia 
was captured and barbarously executed. The 
forts at Concepcion were twice ruined and re- 
stored and many a defeat was inflicted on the Span- 
iards. At the Parliament of Quillin in 1647 the 
Spanish authorities approved of a treaty with the 
Ayraucanians in which the Indians were recognized 
as owners of Indian territory south of the Bio-Bio 
under pledge not to invade territory to the north. 
This was confirmed in 1650 and thenceforth it be- 
came customary for each new governor of Chile, 
on his arrival from Spain, to call a meeting at the 
Bio-Bio border, where he met hordes of Arauca- 
nians, feasted them for several days, and gave pres- 
ents, with mutual compliments and speech-making. 

Meanwhile the Indian and Spanish strains were 
being interblended. Immigrants were constantly 
arriving from the motherland, Jesuits, Dominicans, 
and Franciscans became missionaries along the 
border, and Iberian merchants established channels 
of trade with the old world. The whole district was 
governed by a viceroy under a strict military 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 103 





régime, and no foreigners were permitted to inter- 
fere with the exclusive rights of a conquering 
nation. 

The Chilean has a double inheritance; he is the 
offspring of two virile stocks. From his Spanish 
fathers he has inherited the imperious, dominating 
pride of race and place, tinged with cruelty and 
intolerance; from his Araucanian mothers the heri- 
tage has been an ardent love for his native soil, a 
stubborn, unconquerable valor, and a fierce passion 
for freedom. ‘To-day the two strains are so 
blended that the Chilean people are justly proud of 
their homogeneous character. 

We may pass by the centuries of that romantic 
epoch while the new world was adjusting itself to 
the tyranny of Kurope. The Indian traits have 
always predominated in the masses of the people. 
Spain has left her impress upon Chile and other 
Andean countries through language, social cus- 
toms, education, and religion. In Chile the Span- 
ish conquerors found no developed civilization as 
in the Inca Empire further north. On Easter 
Island, in the Pacific, off the Chilean coast, there 
are a few relics of a culture which leads some 
archeologists to identify the coast Indians with 
those of the entire Pacific strand as far north as 
Alaska. The Araucanians were nomadic, primi- 
tive in their habits and peaceful in their attitude 
toward all tribes which left them unmolested. 
Their religion, which survives almost unchanged to 
the present day, is a subtle animism in which 
naturalism is so sublimated as to border on a spirit- 


104 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





ualized conception of the universe. Their ethical 
code is singularly pure; moral chastity was and is 
the rule of social life; courage is a religious virtue; 
deeds rather than words are meritorious. Among 
the Indian stocks of all the world there is no finer 
example of the superior sons of the soil than is 
furnished by the Araucanian Indian. About 100,- 
000 of them still continue in the southern provinces 
of Chile, and the Government has at length 
realized how valuable a national resource they 
are. The South American Missionary Society 
has reason for encouragement and gratitude to 
God over the response to the gospel as presented 
in their schools, chapels, and community enter- 
prises. 'They have been successful in cultivating 
the soil and in breeding cattle so that their future 
looks brighter than that of any tribe on the Amer- 
ican continent. 

Spanish dominion was marked by paternalism, 
monopoly, and militaristic imperialism. The fa- 
vored aristocratic descendants of the early con- 
querors developed large estates and flourished 
within the limits of a feudal system. 

As in all Spanish countries, the Church had a 
free hand and played a large part in the public life. 
Chile was divided into the two bishoprics of San- 
tiago and Concepcion, and the Church managed to 
accumulate most of the wealth of the country. 
Monks and Jesuits did some useful work in teach- 
ing industrial and agricultural arts and in giving 
the people a certain degree of education. But it 
was a medieval Church working along medieval 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 105 





lines, more concerned with political power and the 
prestige of wealth than with the moral enlighten- 
ment of the Chileans. Almagro, Valdivia, and 
Aguirre were true sons of the Church, and they no 
doubt rendered her true homage, even though their 
private lives showed little of the fruits of the Spirit. 
It was amid such conditions as these that the 
Reformation blazed forth in Europe, and it is such 
conditions, which have been little bettered with the 
passing of years, which constitute the call and the 
opportunity for the reformed faith in Chile. 

At the opening of the nineteenth century, there- 
fore, Chile was a colony of some 500,000 persons, a 
people endowed with the vigor of character bred by 
a mountainous country and a bracing climate, and 
by a hard struggle for existence, but lacking in 
education, shut out by a narrow-minded commer- 
cial system from knowledge of the outside world, 
and destitute of the character-training afforded by 
free institutions. 

Notwithstanding her extreme isolation and all 
the precautions of Spain, the great idea of “ egalité, 
fraternité, liberté”’ penetrated to the southern seas 
and took root in a soil fertilized by suffering and 
irrigated by tears. The successful revolt of the 
New England colonies shook the world, and natu- 
rally suggested to the far-away colonies of Spain 
the possibility of following their example, particu- 
larly as the deposition of Ferdinand VII by 
Napoleon afforded a favorable opportunity. In 
1809 uprisings took place in Venezuela, in Ecuador, 
in Peru, and in Argentina and on September 18, 


106 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





1810, with a courage born of desperation, the 
Cabildo of Santiago secured the resignation of the 
Spanish governor and vested his powers in an 
elected board of seven members, which was the 
beginning of popular government in Chile. 

One of the first acts of the republic was the 
abolition of the restrictive laws against free trade. 
In 1811, Martinez de Rosas declared Coquimbo, 
Valparaiso, Taleahuano, and Valdivia open ports 
for the commerce of all nations. ‘This progressive 
measure opened the gates of Chile to foreign com- 
merce and quadrupled customhouse receipts the 
first year. The same year all slaves were liberated 
and reforms extended even to the abuses practiced 
by the ecclesiastical authorities. The contributions 
for the support of agents of the Inquisition were 
stopped, as were also the parochial taxes paid to 
the priests for baptisms, marriages, and funerals. 

In 1812 the first newspaper appeared, the 
Aurora, printed on a press imported from the 
United States by a North American merchant 
named Matthew Arnold Havel. Although it was 
issued but once a week and consisted of four pages 
of two columns each, it signalized the freedom of 
the press in a country which hitherto had had to 
limit its self-expression to ideas approved by a far- 
away sovereign. ‘I'welve years later Hl] Mercurio, 
Chile’s greatest newspaper, had its birth. 

Joining forces with San Martin, Bernardo 
O’ Higgins defeated the Spanish forces at Chaca- 
buco and Maipo in 1818, and was made supreme 
director of Chile. Spain made an ineffectual effort 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 107 





to recapture the colony by blockading the port of 
Valparaiso, but Admiral Cochrane saved the day 
and established the basis of the Chilean navy. 
O’Higgins, like many another successful military 
commander, was not a success as a president. He 
was induced by his friends to abdicate on January 
28, 1823. His willingness to stand aside in the 
interests of his beloved land is one of the finest 
illustrations of true patriotic magnanimity. For 
some time Chile was governed by a triumvirate, and 
later General Freire assumed power, accepting the 
offer of a provisional government. Efforts were 
made to frame a constitution, but it was not until 
1833, during the presidency of General Prieto, that 
the great publicist, Diego Portales, advanced the 
country’s progress materially, and drafted the con- 
stitution which has been in force until 1925. 

Chile has been blessed with good presidents in 
the main. The wealthy landowners have been a 
bulwark of conservatism and have ungrudgingly 
accepted what they consider their birthright as 
rulers of the proletariat. ‘This has naturally given 
rise to the political abuse of an oligarchy. For 
many years it has been commonly declared that one 
hundred families have determined the destinies of 
Chile, and we believe that this popular estimate is 
not far astray. From the very outset of Chile’s 
life as a sovereign state, the men who have enjoyed 
special privilege have gravitated to one political 
group. On matters of national policy they have 
been conservative and aristocratic. They have 
allied themselves with the state Church and have 


108 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





endeavored to preserve in Chile the best features 
of organization and government derived from 
medieval Spain. Within the past generation, how- 
ever, the liberal and progressive groups have suc- 
cessfully rallied about intelligent leaders and have 
succeeded in combating the ambitions of the 
Church while they promoted the cause of education 
and general liberty for the average citizen. The 
majority of Chileans have been thus dependent 
upon the caprices of a small group of privileged 
persons who control the revenues. 

The Chilean-Peruvian War of 1879 brought to- 
gether men of all classes and suddenly conferred 
upon Chile a source of hitherto unsuspected wealth 
derived from the nitrate fields of the Atacama and 
Tarapaca deserts. Mining became a rival of agri- 
culture in claiming the toil of Chile’s stalwart sons. 
The mountains are rich in ore deposits, and foreign 
capital has been attracted for the exploitation of 
copper and iron. In the larger cities some manu- 
factures have been begun so that industrial organi- 
zation has disturbed the former equilibrium. On 
the large country estates it was possible to employ 
men as laborers for a mere pittance. When these 
same workers moved to the cities the attempt was 
made to treat them as formerly. The resultant 
clash was inevitable. Conscious of their worth 
the industrial classes have demanded their rights 
and a middle class is emerging from the population 
which hitherto had been Helots. No longer are 
men and women ready to live in surroundings 
wholly inadequate for human beings; no longer 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 109 


are they ready to sacrifice themselves and their 
children for the enrichment of their employers; 
no longer are they content to accept illiteracy 
as their destiny; they have found wise leadership 
in their crusade for sound opportunity, fair treat- 
ment, and equal rights. ‘There are ominous mut- 
terings against the oppression of the clergy, whose 
iron hand is over all the land, through the advan- 
tage which accrues to a state Church. 

In 1920, the presidential candidate selected as 
the champion of the workingman and the poor, as 
against the special immunities of the former ruling 
classes, was Don Alturo Alessandri. He was 
elected after one of the bitterest political conflicts 
ever known in history. Liberal sentiment became 
more widespread until a revolution was threatened. 
In September, 1924, by a cowp d'état the deadlock 
in Congress was broken by a military commission 
who dissolved Congress. ‘The president generously 
presented his resignation and left for Europe. It 
was found, however, that the military commission 
were favoring the policy of the old conservative 
parties and in January, 1925, a larger group of the 
younger officers deposed the military commission, 
took over the reins of government and invited 
President Alessandri to return. No episode in the 
history of Chile has been more dramatic or spec- 
tacular than the welcome accorded the returning 
president. Grievous defects in the Constitution 
required remedying and the plan proposed is sim- 
ilar to that adopted by Germany when President 
Ebert was named chief magistrate. A constituent 


110 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





assembly will be convoked in December; repre- 
sentatives of all classes will express the will of the 
people respecting a revised national charter. 
President Alessandri hopes to guide the proceed- 
ings until it be possible by constitutional methods 
to elect a successor and a new Chamber of Depu- 
ties and Senate so that the chief executive to be 
elected may have every liberty to devise measures 
for the progress of a land whose inhabitants believe 
in the triumph of an ideal through the use of 
reason. 

Chile’s national motto is, “ By reason or by 
force.” In civil reform they are ready to trust the 
sane judgment of her intelligent citizens. Never 
has there been a revolution in the sense which is 
commonly associated with the precarious life of 
South American republics. In 1891, President 
Balmaceda undertook to oppose Congress by levy- 
ing taxation directly and defying the representa- 
tives of the people. Each of these positions was 
defended by armed force. ‘The presidential troops 
were defeated and the president committed suicide, 
but never has an aspirant for the presidency taken 
the field with his retainers to decide the issue of a 
presidential election through the arbitrament of 
war. In the two grave national crises involving 
interrepublican relationships, Chile has furnished a 
shining example to all the peoples of the earth. In 
the boundary dispute with Argentina she consented 
to have all vexed questions decided by arbitration 
and her daughters joined with those of her sister 
republic in erecting the Christ of the Andes on a 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF CHILE 111 





snowy crest through which the dividing line runs. 
Chile’s moot question over her northern boundary 
has been left to President Coolidge’s Arbitration 
Committee for final award. 

Chile is rightly adjudged one of the most pro- 
gressive of the South American republics; her citi- 
zens are intelligent, energetic, ambitious; her legis- 
lators are anxious to promote the welfare of all 
citizens; her hospitality to foreigners of the right 
stamp is gracious and inspiring. Chile is ready to 
learn, eager to cooperate, and anxious to make a 
large contribution to the welfare of mankind. She 
is ready to clasp hands with all who will join her in 
an earnest attempt to work out the highest destiny 
of a people fortunately endowed by nature, shielded 
by Providence, and allured by noble aspirations. 


JAMES H. McLEAN 


CHAPTER XIII 


SOME SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY 
OF THE CHILE MISSION 


HE development of the Protestant movement 
and of the Presbyterian Church in Chile has 
been accompanied by important constitutional re- 
forms and by the winning of significant liberties. 
Some of the facts that lay back of these victories 
and the public opinion in regard to them, as ex- 
pressed by the contemporary press, are given in 
this and in the following chapter. For the trans- 
lation of original documents and of newspaper 
articles, and for the writing of this and the follow- 
ing chapter, Miss Florence E. Smith of the Chile 
Mission is responsible. 


AN ORIGINAL PIONEER 


Dr. David Trumbull, who arrived in Chile in 
1845, is generally regarded as the pioneer of 
Protestantism in that country. In 1878, the 
Presbyterian Board entered the field, taking over 
the work initiated under Dr. Trumbull’s leader- 
ship. But before describing the origin of the work 
of Dr. Trumbull and of the Presbyterian Church, 
reference should be made to an unusual educational 
development that took place twenty-five years be- 
fore Dr. Trumbull reached Chile. 


112 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 1138 





Early in the nineteenth century in England a 
man was devising a system of education for poor 
children which would teach the three R’s to large 
groups at a very small expenditure and without 
trained teachers. Joseph Lancaster had had few 
opportunities for self-culture, but at the age of 
twenty he began to gather a few poor children 
under his father’s roof and to give them the rudi- 
ments of an education without a fee. The main 
features of his plan were the employment of the 
older scholars to teach the younger and the use of 
certain mechanical drills by means of which the 
young teachers could impart the rudiments of read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic to large groups at the 
same time. Soon a thousand children were gath- 
ered in Borough Road. The order and cheerfulness 
of the school and Lancaster’s ability to do so much 
with so little in the way of material appliances soon 
attracted much attention, and reached the ears of 
royalty itself. King George III expressed the 
wish, in a personal interview with Lancaster, that 
every child might be taught to read the New 
Testament, and the versatile founder of the new 
system thereupon made it one of his textbooks, an 
action which was to bear important fruit. 

In 1818, James Thomson, a disciple of Jan- 
caster, arrived in Buenos Aires, where he remained 
three years in the twofold capacity of educational- 
ist and agent of the British Bible Society. The 
Argentine Government made many promises which 
remained unfulfilled, but the indefatigable Thom- 
son succeeded in founding eight schools and a soci- 


114 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





ety pledged to the Lancasterian methods. With 
an ecclesiastic at its head, this society in a short 
time had one hundred schools where five thousand 
children were being educated. 

After such encouraging results in Argentina, in 
1821, Thomson crossed the cordillera and intro- 
duced the Lancasterian system into Chile, where 
he arrived at the psychological moment. In the 
midst of all the disorder to which the new republic 
had fallen heir, men of broad vision were trying to 
extend the cause of popular education under the 
greatest difficulties. A new plan of primary edu- 
cation had been drawn up in 1813 by which schools 
should be established for both boys and girls in 
every village of fifty families, and the Instituto 
Nacional, organized in Santiago the same year by 
the fusion of three colonial schools, provided for 
the secondary education of that period. The ad- 
vent of a leader like Thomson with a ready-made 
system which needed no trained teachers, few text- 
books, and little expenditure of money, was hailed 
with great enthusiasm. He came under Govern- 
ment contract, as is evidenced by the following 
document: 


“The envoy of Chile will pay Mr. Thomson for 
the establishment of such schools as the capital of 
Chile may permit, the sum of one hundred pesos 
per month for the period of one year, which time is 
considered sufficient for establishing such schools 
and preparing the monitors and subalterns who 
shall continue the management of them. ... For 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 115 





the transportation of the director two hundred 
pesos will be paid on his arrival in Chile. 


(Signed ) “ MicgueL ZANARTU. 
‘Dirco THOMSON. 


“Buenos Aires, March 26, 1821.” 


For his first school the Government ceded Thom- 
son the chapel of the University of San Felipe, 
which occupied the site of the present Municipal 
Theater. The chapel was the largest hall in the 
building, but it needed more light and its altars 
were converted into seats and its images of saints 
had to give room to maps and blackboards.* The 
alterations were speedily made, and on the national 
holiday, September 18, 1821, the new school opened 
its doors to two hundred children. 

In October of the same year, Thomson writes: 


“We expect to open another school in the Uni- 
versity Building, for which we already have more 
applicants than the hall will accommodate. All 
classes of society are interested in our schools, and 
every day we are visited by Government ministers. 
Four professors are studying our methods and in 
a few months more we shall be able to open schools 
in provincial towns, according to our plan. In 
Concepcion, in Coquimbo, and in other smaller 
towns, preparations are being made for the es- 
tablishment of Lancasterian schools.” 


1 El Sistema de Lancaster en Chile, Amunategui Solar. 


116 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


The third school in Santiago was located in the 
buildings which had belonged to the Jesuits, ex- 
pelled in 1767, where the Congressional Building 
now stands. In Valparaiso the first of these 
schools was opened in 1822 with 130 pupils, 

Thomson remained in Chile but the one year, 
according to his contract, but in this short time he 
accomplished wonders, establishing schools, pre- 
paring teachers, and not omitting to carry on his 
work as agent of the Bible Society. From Chile 
he went to Peru at the invitation of San Martin, 
and the impression he had made in Chile is demon- 
strated by the following letter: 


“Citizen Bernardo O’Higgins, decorated with 
the gold medals of Chacabuco and Maipo, Grand 
Officer and President of the Legion of Merit, 
Founder of the Order of the Sun, Commander in 
Chief of the Armies of Chile and Peru, Admiral 
of the National Navy, and Supreme Director of the 
State of Chile: 

“In view of the notable patriotism of Mr. Diego 
Thomson, native of England, and of the great 
merit which he has acquired in Chile as director of 
schools for mutual help according to the Lancas- 
terian system established in this city, the Normal 
School and others which have been opened by 
teachers who have received their training under 
him, the establishment of which all through the 
country will open an extensive field for the good 
education of youth and the consequent betterment 
of customs generally among all its inhabitants, 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 117 





and desiring to reward him according to the means 
at the disposition of this Government, 

“Hereby declares him to be a Chilean citizen, 
and therefore that he is and shall be respected as 
such Chilean, equal in rights with all who dwell 
in this country, and he shall enjoy all the graces 
and privileges thereunto belonging. 

“In virtue whereof all the inhabitants of Chile 
shall consider him as citizen thereof. Notice is 
hereby given to all courts, leaders, and judges that 
they shall collectively and individually carry out 
the terms of this my letter. ‘Take due notice 
hereof His Excellency, El Cabildo. 

“Written in the Presidential Palace, Santiago, 
Chile, May 31, 1822. 

(Signed) ‘“ Brernarpo O’HicaIns. 
“ JOAQUIN DE ECHEVERRIA.” 


It is not within the province of this chapter to 
follow in detail the story of Thomson in Peru and 
Colombia, which in truth reads like a romance, but 
the truth of which is abundantly proved by his- 
torical documents. In Lima, San Martin, not 
finding another place equally suitable, ordered the 
friars to vacate the College of St. Thomas, which 
order was given on Saturday. On Monday the 
friars vacated, and on Tuesday the Lancasterian 
school was opened. Things moved more rapidly 
in the early days of independence! Within two 
months, more than six hundred children were study- 
ing in the ancient hall of St. Thomas and reading 
the Bible instead of the lives of the saints. Thom- 


118 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





son writes that in two days he sold five hundred 
Bibles and five hundred Testaments, and adds: 
“What immense advantages have resulted from 
the revolution! How great the blessings that fol- 
low in the steps of liberty! The Bible is now pub- 
licly sold only a short distance from the site where 
the terrible Inquisition celebrated its sessions.” He 
laments that his stock of Bibles is exhausted and 
unceasingly urges the Bible Society to send enough 
Bibles and Testaments “to cover if possible all 
South America.” The National Congress in Lima 
named Jose Francisco Navarrete, a respected 
priest of that city, to help Thomson in the organ- 
ization of his schools, and in 1826 he refers to him 
as his “able and esteemed collaborator” and 
recommends him to the attention of the Bible 
Society. 

As Dr. Lester points out in his Historia de la 
Obra Evangélica Presbiteriana en Chile, the story 
of Thomson’s work from this distance seems more 
like a fairy tale than sober fact. How could this 
man preach the gospel, found Christian schools 
and Bible societies, and in his work gain the in- 
terest and sympathy of both governments and 
priests, in times of crass ignorance and supersti- 
tion, doing a work which even to-day, a century 
later, would be impossible? The explanation is 
found: 

1. In the character of Thomson — his valor, op- 
timism, constancy, and faith, combined with great 
tact. 

2. In the awakening of intellectual and spiritual 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION _ 119 





interest after the overthrow of Spanish thralldom. 
Men rejoiced in the exercise of new liberties. 

38. During the struggle for independence, the 
Roman Catholic Church had steadfastly favored 
the monarchy and thwarted the establishment of 
the republic. The pope, faithful to his antecedents 
and the monarchical constitution of the Church, ex- 
communicated all who shouldered arms against the 
mother country. With very few exceptions, clerics 
and monks fought with the soldiers of Spain. It 
was natural, therefore, that in the first flush of 
victory, Chile should favor any movement which 
tended to debilitate the power of the Church. 

Conditions, therefore, favored the work of 
Thomson, and he knew how to embrace the op- 
portunity. But alas! Thomson was but one, and 
the only one, and his work could not endure. Ten 
years later the schools and societies which he 
founded had disappeared. Where was the Evan- 
gelical Church of England and America, and why 
did it not come to Thomson’s aid? He had opened 
the doors, they had but to enter in, in those 
days which Amunategui calls “the golden age of 
Protestanism in Chile.” But the American Church 
was not looking far beyond its own borders at that 
time. ‘The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions in the United States of America was not 
founded until sixteen years later, 1837, and did 
not interest itself in Spanish America until a dec- 
ade after its organization. ‘This movement which 
promised to change the intellectual and moral life 
of the new republics was allowed to die. 


120 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





But if the Evangelical Church was not awake 
to the possibilities of the situation, not so of the 
state Church. Seeing that the colonies had finally 
triumphed, it did not take long for the astute 
hierarchy to change its political garments and pre- 
sent itself as the monitor and guide of Chile. Not 
many years later the Church had perfected its or- 
ganization and recovered its lost prestige, and had 
become as rich, autocratic, and dominant as ever, 
raising an insurmountable wall against the en- 
trance of freedom of religious thought and faith. 


Tuer GOSPEL FOR FOREIGNERS 


One of the most significant events in the history 
of Chile was the opening of its ports to foreign 
trade by Juan Martinez de Rosas in 1811, bring- 
ing in its wake not only increased wealth but, what 
was of even greater advantage to the country, col- 
onizers of Anglo-Saxon blood. And hereby hangs 
the tale of the introduction of the reformed faith, 
notwithstanding the insurmountable wall which 
the dominant Church had raised. No barrier of 
human construction, whether civil or religious, in 
the history of the centuries, has ever effectually 
prevented the propagation of the idea of equality, 
fraternity, and liberty. 

These foreigners were mostly from the north of 
Europe, England, and North America, and there- 
fore Protestants. That they should worship God 
according to the dictates of their own consciences 
had been the right for which their ancestors had 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 121 





suffered and died, and in coming to a new land 
they had no mind to leave their religion at home, 
or to be coerced into the adoption of another which 
was repugnant to their convictions. But by the 
Constitution of 1833 the religion of Chile was 
officially declared to be the Roman Catholic Apos- 
tolic, to the exclusion of all others. Education, 
marriage, and right of burial were solely in the 
hands of the priests. It does not require a very 
active imagination to comprehend what must have 
been the difficulties attendant upon the establish- 
ment of a home under such circumstances. 

It is not strange, therefore, that as the number 
of these foreigners increased, urgent appeals be- 
gan to be made to the Church at home to send out 
evangelical pastors to minister to the needs of Eng- 
lish-speaking congregations. In 1844 such a peti- 
tion, signed by English and North American resi- 
dents in Valparaiso, was sent to the Foreign Kvan- 
gelical Society of New York, later known as the 
American and Foreign Christian Union. We do 
not know the names of the signers of this historic 
document, but it conveyed one significant phrase: 
“A minister to preach in English, and also to 
carry the gospel to the Chileans.” 

This call reached David Trumbull, a Yale grad- 
uate of 1842, just as he was completing his course 
in Princeton Theological Seminary, from which he 
was graduated in 1845, and we find the following 
comment in his journal in March of that year: “ It 
seems as though a field was opened there and in 
some respects as though I am fitted to enter and 


122 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 
enna 


till it, and, scattering seed, to wait patiently for 
God to give the increase.” A sailing ship, the 
Mississippi, 137 days from New York to VWal- 
paraiso around Cape Horn, brought him to his 
chosen field of labor, where he landed on Christmas 
Day, 1845. The Seaman’s Friend Society had co- 
operated with the Christian Union in sending him 
out, on the basis that part of his work should be 
dedicated to sailors in Valparaiso Bay. 

The port of Valparaiso, then a town of some 
50,000 inhabitants, was already a great harbor 
where ships of all nations came to anchor. In 1850 
nearly 1,500 commercial vessels, with 15,000 per- 
sons on board, representing thirty different nation- 
alities, visited Valparaiso; but then, as now, it had 
the reputation of being one of the wickedest ports 
in the world. 

It was a bleak challenge which confronted this 
young man of twenty-six that memorable Christ- 
mas Day. Beyond a small congregation led by an 
Anglican consular chaplain, Rev. William Arm- 
strong, In a private house on English Hill, there 
was no evangelical service for any nationality and 
no possibility of having one except behind closed 
doors. Dr. Trumbull’s first sermon was preached 
on board the Mississippi in Valparaiso Bay on 
Sunday, January 4, 1846, to a congregation of 
forty, from the text: “In whom the god of this 
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe 
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 
II Cor. 4:4. 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION — 1238 





Tradition has it that the next week he held his 
first service on shore in a warehouse of El Mer- 
curio, the great Chilean newspaper. <A big roll of 
paper served him as pulpit, and his English con- 
gregation sat about on anything they could find. 
For six months the young missionary held weekly 
services on board various ships in the bay and in 
private houses on shore, with an attendance of from 
twenty to fifty. But at last they were able to rent 
a cellar in one of the ravines of the port, so small 
and dark that but fifty people could squeeze in, 
and morning services had to be conducted by the 
light of candles and whale-oil lamps. Here was 
born Union Church, which was organized on Sep- 
tember 5, 1847, one year and eight months after 
he landed. Obstacles served only to stimulate 
David Trumbull. 

The English work in Chile was the forerunner 
of the gospel for the Chileans; hence it is interest- 
ing to linger among these early beginnings, and 
to note the steps which led to religious toleration 
in Chile. 

Seven years later, in 1854, Union Church pur- 
chased the site for its first building, which was also 
the first Protestant church erected in South Amer- 
ica or on the west coast from California to Cape 
Horn. Building was begun the following year, and 
the alarm in the hearts of ecclesiastics and their 
parishioners rose in unison with its rising walls. 
Municipal authorities peremptorily ordered the 
work to cease, and the Supreme Government ad- 
vised the constructors that as the Presbyterian form 


124 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


of worship was illegal in Chile, it was impossible 
for them to continue. Although the Government 
communications were couched in courteous terms, 
their content was unmistakable. But Trumbull 
and the Britishers behind him came of fighting 
stock, and while polite notes were being inter- 
changed, bricks continued to be laid. Some of the 
newspaper articles of that period make interesting 
reading. 

El Telegrafo of Santiago, in its edition of Oc- 
tober 7, 1852, published a protest signed by two 
English Anglicans, one German Presbyterian, one 
North American Methodist, and two French Cath- 
olics. This protest was originated by a communi- 
cation signed “ An Observer,” as follows: 


““ Have the kindness to insert in your appreci- 
ated paper the following data: Article 5 of the 
State Constitution reads: ‘The religion of the Re- 
public of Chile is the Roman, Catholic, Apostolic, 
to the exclusion of the public exercise of all other.’ 
Article 80: “‘'The President elect, on assuming his 
duties, shall take the following oath before the 
President of the Senate, both Houses being as- 
sembled in the Senate Chamber: 

“*T ... swear by God our Lord and these 
sacred Gospels that I will discharge faithfully the 
office of President of the Republic, and that I will 
observe and protect the Roman, Catholic, Apos- 
tolic religion . . . and that I will defend the Con- 
stitution and the law. So help me God and be my 
defense; and if not, may He require it of me.’ ” 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 125 





“ Mercurio, August 8, 1852. Local Chronicle, 
Protestant Chapel: 

“* Yesterday a meeting of the principal foreign 
merchants was held in the house of Mr. Henry 
Ward, with the object of considering means to 
build a chapel for their worship and a manse, as 
their present meeting place is already too small and 
inadequate. It was unanimously resolved to name 
a committee composed of Messrs. Ward, Heatley, 
Wormald, Miller, Rowe, and Muller to carry out 
the desires of the meeting. We understand that 
Mr. Waddington has manifested his enthusiasm for 
this interesting enterprise by offering an appropri- 
ate site which he owns on Cerro Concepcion.’ 

“These are the facts. Comments are unnec- 
sary. 

“AN OBSERVER.” 


We quote from the protest as follows: 

“The question of immigration is an old one in 
Chile. The present president and many statesmen 
of all parties have sponsored it. Related to the 
idea of immigration is the liberty of those who do 
not profess Catholicism to conserve their own man- 
ner of worship. ‘The newspapers, however exclu- 
sive and intolerant of opinion they may be, know 
very well that no constitution can prohibit that a 
European of other faith shall practice it in Chile, 
unless they prohibit him to disembark and remain 
in the country. And precisely at the moment 
when German immigration is prosperous and 
growing, the Catholic Review raises the alarm in 


126 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





order to perturb our immigrants with doubts con- 
cerning their future. 

“For some twelve or fourteen years there has 
existed in this port a hall for the celebration of 
Protestant services; this hall is called a chapel in 
all languages. ‘There the foreigners, whether of 
previous or recent arrival in the country, meet and 
practice their own religious rites. The fact is pub- 
lic, because it is visible; it cannot be hidden. For 
twelve years the Government has known it, as well 
as the archbishop, and the priests of Valparaiso 
have tolerated it because they could not hinder it, 
nor have they felt that it would be right to do so. 
For years the Catholic Review has shut its eyes to 
this matter, perhaps for discretionary motives 
which do it honor. 

‘Now the question is raised in more explicit 
terms. A month ago the press of this port com- 
municated the result of a deliberation had in the 
house of Mr. Ward concerning the necessity of 
building a more spacious hall for the celebration 
of the rites which have been practiced twelve years 
in the country, and advertised in public papers, 
principally those published in English, the Neigh- 
bor and the Mercantile Reporter. Our _ pres- 
ent Minister of the Interior, Waddington, is 
pointed out as a criminal for having offered a piece 
of ground. Article 5 of the Constitution is cited, 
and the oath taken by the president to defend the 
Constitution, terminating the denounced infraction 
of the text already cited with these solemn words: 
‘'This needs no comment.’ 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 127 
EEE 


“ But for us it does need comment. We are 
some thousands of men of all nations, established 
in this country, who profess the faith of our fathers. 
We have practiced it without hindrance for many 
years, and we shall continue to practice it, accord- 
ing to our conscience and in fulfillment of our duty 
toward God as Christians. Will you tell us, per- 
adventure, that we must go to some other country 
because the Constitution prohibits the fulfillment 
of our religious duties? We shall reply as we have 
replied to the Turks in Constantinople and Jerusa- 
lem, ‘We cannot go and we don’t wish to.’ If 
it is displeasing to. Mohammedans and Catholics 
that others worship God in different ways, so much 
the worse for them. They will have to support 
some of these small inconveniences of life in order 
that men may live in peace. The Constitution is 
opposed? Then, gentlemen, reform your Consti- 
tution so that it may stop being opposed. Is there 
anything simpler? Do you believe that it is easier 
for us to hide ourselves in order to worship God, as 
though we committed a shameful act? Do you 
think you are going to override us in the exercise 
of our religious duties, like the Mohammedans 
who have just trampled on the cross in Constan- 
tinople? Are you going to throw us into the sea? 
Just try it! 

“ The major part of those who constitute the 
commerce and the riches of this port are Protes- 
tants and the Catholics who live with us, whether 
Chileans or foreigners, know how to respect the 
rights of others. We are the riches, the navy, the 


128 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


industry, the capital, and the commerce of Valpa- 
raiso; we sustain the press, the Government, order, 
and liberty so far as it is within our power to do so. 
The Constitution declares the rights and duties of 
Chileans. It is prohibited that a Chilean shall ex- 
ercise other religion than that of the State, but we 
are English or German or North American, and 
we provide for our religious necessities according 
to the English, German, or American manner. 
“We respect Catholic dogmas, but religious in- 
tolerance is not a dogma of the Catholic Church, 
because it is not Catholic, which signifies universal. 
In Rome the Hebrew religion is tolerated, because 
there is a Hebrew colony; in Ancon these two 
faiths are practiced publicly in synagogues and 
temples, and the Protestant in chapels, as they are 
few in number. In every Catholic country of Eu- 
rope there is religious toleration except in Spain, 
where there are no foreigners; in America, also, 
in the United States, Venezuela, Granada, Argen- 
tina, Brazil, Uruguay, the Guianas, and the major 
part of the Antilles. What right have Spain, 
Chile, and Peru to set themselves up as authorities 
in matters of religious observance against the im- 
mense majority of tolerant countries? Do you 
pretend to be an exception in the Christian world, 
and to be more Catholic than the Pope? Let us 
see if you can. In America the question of wor- 
ship, of foreigners, of immigration, which is one 
and the same, is not a question of passing moment. 
Each day augments the number of people who 
wish to see this question settled in the interests of 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 129 


civilization, domestic peace, and the respect due to 
religious belief. These people have property, 
means, and influence which they can use in the 
country. In political questions we sympathize 
with liberty and order, but if we are attacked in 
our personal liberties, in those which every man 
considers sacred, it will be seen what we can do. 

‘“ Let us therefore maintain those just limits of 
respect due to the interests and merits of all. We 
attack no one on condition that we are not attacked. 
If it is a constitutional question which underlies 
the communication referred to, the author can have 
it out with Dr. Alberdi, who has recently analyzed 
all the constitutions of Spanish America and dem- 
onstrated their defects and errors caused by intol- 
erance. But one thing he has not demonstrated, 
and that is the ridiculous impotence of such ex- 
clusions which are the source of evil and pertur- 
bation only.” 

Alberdi, one of the foremost publicists of Ar- 
gentina, wrote: 

“Spanish America, reduced to Catholicism, with 
the exclusion of any other cult, represents a soli- 
tary and silent convent of monks. The dilemma 
is fatal — either Catholic and unpopulated, or pop- 
ulated and prosperous and tolerant in the matter 
of religion. 'To invite the Anglo-Saxon race and 
the people of Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland 
and deny them the exercise of their worship, is to 
offer them a sham hospitality and to exhibit a false 
liberalism. ‘To exclude the dissenting cults from 
South America is to exclude the English, the Ger- 


130 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





man, the Irish, and the North American, who are 
not Catholics, that is to say, the inhabitants whom 
this continent most needs. To bring them without 
their cult is to bring them without the agent that 
makes them what they are, and to compel them to 
live without religion and to become atheists.” 

One needs to put himself in the place of these 
foreigners in Chile in the years when the state 
Church was the sole arbiter of men’s consciences 
and destinies, to understand the animus of these 
protests from Roman Catholic sources. 

It was impossible to marry except within the 
same faith, without committing perjury and be- 
coming traitors to religious conviction. In order 
to marry a Roman Catholic, the Protestant man 
must go to confession and abjure his faith, or pay 
large sums and submit to long delays to get special 
permission from ecclesiastical authorities. In the 
event of such permission being granted, he was 
obliged to sign a paper before a notary public 
which gave his future offspring into the hands of 
the priests and made his wife’s confessor the arbiter 
of his home. Many men of deep convictions re- 
fused to do this, and it is not strange that the 
number of irregular relationships increased daily. 
There was no baptism for children or registration 
of births outside the Catholic Church, and no burial 
of the Protestant dead in the cemeteries. Visitors 
to Santiago to-day may see on Cerro Santa Lucia 
a stone bearing the inscription, “ ‘lo the memory 
of those exiled from earth and heaven,” placed 
there when the hill, which had formerly been a 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION | 131 





dumping ground for the city’s refuse, was made 
a municipal park by Vicunha Mackenna. As late 
as 1871 a German colonist in the south of Chile 
could not secure the interment of his dead wife, 
and had to carry her fifty miles across country to 
get the right of burial. In Talca the grave of a 
missionary wife, Mrs. Sayre, may still be seen 
“without the city wall.” 

All education, likewise, was in the hands of the 
Church. In 1860, Mrs. Trumbull started a little 
school for girls. It was Protestant and therefore 
“a center of corruption and immorality.” So 
great was the opposition aroused that a committee 
composed of the intendente, a Judge of the court, 
and the chief of police was named to visit the 
school, and although their report was favorable, 
public sentiment was so intensely antagonistic that 
it was maintained with exceedingly great difficulty. 

The new building for Union Church was com- 
pleted in 1855 and dedicated in April, 1856. Its 
entire cost was 15,500 pesos, of which the Seaman’s 
Friend Society gave 1,000 and 14,500 was donated 
in Valparaiso. A high board fence was built in 
front of it to satisfy the authorities. 

But in 1858, when the Anglican church was 
erected on English Hill, two hundred citizens sent 
a petition to the president, protesting against the 
violation of the Constitution and asking him to 
order its destruction. It still stands, however! 


FLORENCE EK. SMITH. 


CHAPTER XIV 


SOME SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF THE HISTORY 
OF THE CHILE MISSION 
(Continued) 


Tuer GOSPEL FOR THE CHILEANS 


ROM the beginning, Dr. Trumbull’s interest 
was not confined to the needs of the English- 
speaking colony. He saw the spiritual hunger on 
every side. He saw the Bible a prohibited and 
confiscated book and the people denied “ the bread 
of life.” He saw the need of the teachings of 
Jesus in the lives about him. Chilean wives and 
husbands began to accompany their companions to 
the evangelical English service. It is related that 
during the curacy of Chaplain Armstrong several 
Chilean women married to Englishmen expressed 
their desire to attend service with their husbands, 
but notice was served on them by the municipal 
authorities that this was absolutely prohibited, and 
that if they persisted, even though accompanied by 
their husbands, the authorities would be obliged to 
employ force to prevent them.’ 

From an early date the English evangelicals had 
promoted the distribution of the Scriptures. No 
one knows what became of those which Thomson 
scattered broadcast in 1821, but in 1834, Isaac 
Wheelwright, agent of the American Bible Soci- 


1 Historia de la Obra Evangelica Presbiteriana in Chile, W. H. 
Lester, p. 16. 


132 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 133 





ety, visited Chile. All we know of his efforts is 
that the archbishop thundered against “the devil 
and his works,” in this case, Wheelwright and his 
Bibles, and the books were publicly burned in the 
plaza of Quillota. Mr. Armstrong maintained a 
small depository in his house, in English and Span- 
ish, and in 1858, Dr. Trumbull, in the belief that 
the best way of promoting religious liberty was to 
circulate the Bible in Spanish, sent a box to San- 
tiago in care of a colporteur, whose name is not 
certainly known, but who was probably Newton 
J. Wetherby. Great excitement soon reigned in 
ecclesiastical circles, and in March, 1858, Arch- 
bishop Rafael Valentin Valdivieso launched an 
edict to the clerics and faithful of his archdiocese, 
menacing with the severest penalties of the Church 
all who should depart from her teachings, in 
which he said: 

“The first means which they [the heretics] em- 
ploy is the distribution of fraudulent Bibles and 
tracts, written from a Protestant viewpoint, and 
with calculated malice to deceive the ignorant, 
which the so-called Bible Societies print in un- 
heard-of profusion for circulation in countries 
where our language is spoken, through agents 
richly remunerated with the money of their numer- 
ous associates.” 

The Chilean people themselves were not slow to 
recognize and to protest against this spirit of intol- 
erance. An article published in Hl Ferrocarril of 
March 23, 1858, at the time of the commotion 
caused by the erection of the evangelical chapel in 


134 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





Valparaiso, described in the preceding chapter, 
quotes Voltaire: “ There are two monsters which 
desolate the earth in times of peace: one is calumny 
and the other intolerance. I fight them to the 
death’; and its author adds: 

‘A voice, a cry of alarm is heard from the bosom 
of the clerics in Santiago, sufficiently powerful to 
make itself heard above the clamor of political 
parties over election triumphs. What says this 
voice é 

“ Fifty years ago there was a voice which pro- 
claimed independence. But this voice did not 
come from the clergy. 

“A few years later this voice was suffocated by 
executioners. But the martyrs were not the 
clergy. 

“In the year 1823 it was not they who shouted, 
‘Death to tyranny!’ In the next ten years it was 
not they who struggled to organize our country. 
In the civil wars which have devastated us, they 
have not intervened with a word of love and peace 
between contending parties, nor have they begged 
mercy for the victims. 

“ During the past fifty years we have continu- 
ously cried, ‘ Liberty!’ but it has not been they who 
have proclaimed it. Our fathers said: ‘In Chile 
there shall not be slaves. Equality before the law! 
Only the nation is supreme!’ But they, the clergy, 
in the three hundred years they have dominated 
us, have never proclaimed or defended these ideas, 
but have always opposed them. 

‘ Not long ago the rising generation proclaimed, 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 135 





‘Death to ignorance!’ but this cry found no echo 
in the bosom of the clergy. 

“And now what do they say? Listen! They 
say: ‘ Our privileges are in peril. There are a few 
people who will not listen to us. Fight the 
heretics!’ 

“ But the nation listens with scorn and says: 
‘'Those heretics have brought us commerce, indus- 
try, and civilization. ‘Those heretics are the life of 
our navy, of our cities, and our country. ‘Those 
heretics are worth more than you.’ ”’ 

Dr. Trumbull took up the challenge, and on 
March 30, 1858, answered the archbishop in the 
public press with an article entitled, “ Fraudulent 
Bibles.” The archbishop prudently delegated the 
continuance of the argument to Presbyter Fran- 
cisco M. Garfias, but Dr. Trumbull kept it up until 
Garfias withdrew in confusion, and the debate was 
won. 

This was Dr. Trumbull’s first entrance into pub- 
licity, but not his last. For thirty-five years he 
continued the battle against intrenched superstition, 
ignorance, and guile. His keenly logical mind and 
his correct and graceful use of Spanish made him 
an adversary not to be despised. He had strong 
convictions and he knew how to express and defend 
them, but even when he hit hardest his generosity 
of spirit and unfailing courtesy softened the blow. 

In 1863 there was a prolonged drought in Chile, 
such as was repeated in 1924. Harvests failed and 
animals died by thousands. ‘The patron saint of 
rain, St. Isidor, was appealed to in public peti- 


136 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





tions, processions, and so forth, and suddenly an 
abundant rain fell. Some thanked the Virgin, 
some St. Isidor, some St. Bartholomew, but the 
editor of La Voz de Chile suggested that perhaps 
atmospheric conditions had something to do with 
saving the country. Mariano Casanova, ecclesias- 
tical governor of Valparaiso and afterwards arch- 
bishop of Chile, wrote an article in Hl Ferrocarril, 
defending the worship of the saints and attributing 
to them power to confer celestial benefits on be- 
levers. 

Once more David Trumbull entered the lists, 
answering Casanova in an article published in La 
V oz de Chile, ““ Who Sends the Rain?” terminat- 
ing with the citation of Zech. 10: 1, 2: “ Ask ye of 
the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the 
Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them 
showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners 
have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they 
comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as 
a flock, they were troubled, because there was no 
shepherd.” A few days later he resumed the theme 
under three heads: “Should we claim the inter- 
cession of the saints with God? Should we render 
them worship? Should we pray to their images? ”’ 

These articles were read and discussed all over 
Chile. Who was this who dared to introduce new 
ideas and appeal to the reason of the common man? 
What new truth did he possess which gave him 
the moral courage to lift his voice as “ one erying in 
the wilderness ” ? That a new influence was abroad 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 1387 





could not be gainsaid. What was it? “ How get 
acquainted with it?” said some. “ How silence 
it?” said others. It will be noted that although 
alone in a country where prudence would have 
seemed to counsel a non-aggressive policy, Dr. 
Trumbull’s attitude was quite the opposite. By 
the constant dissemination of democratic ideals and 
by appealing to the reason, common sense, and con- 
science of the man in the street, to whom these 
ideals have ever been dear, in Chile as elsewhere, 
Dr. Trumbull brought about the so-ealled Interpre- 
tative Act of July 27, 1865, which interpreted 
Article 5 of the Constitution to mean that those 
who did not profess the State religion might be 
permitted to practice their own rites in buildings 
privately owned, and to found private schools for 
the instruction of their children, with the under- 
standing that no public manifestation should be 
made, including in such “ public manifestations, 
the use of steeples and church bells.” 

This constituted a great triumph for Dr. Trum- 
bull, although to some it may seem disproportionate 
to the twenty years of effort involved, but it really 
was the first step made by Chile along the path 
toward religious liberty. 

Seeing the possibility of now holding regular 
services in Spanish for those Chileans who should 
desire to attend, Dr. ‘Trumbull immediately ap- 
pealed to the Foreign Evangelical Society for 
reénforcements. And in response thereto, Alex- 
ander M. Merwin and Sylvanus Sayre were sent 
out, arriving in Chile in 1866. In 1861 the foreign 


138 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


residents of Santiago, emboldened by the presence 
and work of Dr. Trumbull in Valparaiso, had 
asked for an evangelical minister for an English- 
speaking congregation in their city, and Nathaniel 
P. Gilbert had arrived in 1862. 

This group had previously met in the house of 
Mr. Helsby, engineer of the gas factory in Calle 
Moneda, but after Mr. Gilbert’s arrival they es- 
tablished themselves in Calle Colegio 44, now 
Almirante Barroso, where services in Spanish also 
were later held. ‘The greatest precautions had to 
be observed to avoid all appearance of a public 
meeting, the people going singly or in groups of 
two or three at intervals, as if on a visit to a private 
house. 

Mr. Merwin came first to Santiago to help Mr. 
Gilbert, where he remained some two years, and a 
little school was established in Calle Colegio and a 
tiny sheet published, called The Sower, El Sem- 
brador, the first of its kind in Chile. 

Mr. Sayre went to live in Talca, which had been 
previously visited by Mr. Gilbert. 

On May 20, 1868, a meeting was held to consider 
the organization in Santiago of a Spanish church. 
Bibles and testaments had been scattered and read, 
and the fruit of this sowing was not long in ripen- 
ing. As usual, persecution only served to hasten 
the harvest, and the first Chilean evangelical church 
was established on June 7, 1868, in the capital, 
and four Chileans became members thereof at the 
first communion: 

Sra. Rosario Vicencio de Wetherby 





| Fs 














SENORA OLIVARES (right); THE OLDEST LIVING CONVERT TO 
PROTESTANTISM IN CHILE; MRS. J. F. GARVIN (left) 


The first Protestant church for Spanish-speaking people in Chile was 
organized in 1868 (p. 138). 





THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION _ 139 





Sra. Eusebia Tapia de Guzman 

Sr. Camilo Guzman 

Sr. Juan B. Gonzalez 

Naturally these things became known, and the 
archbishop tried to have the meeting prohibited. 
Failing in this, he got together a huge procession 
which, after sprinkling Mr. Gilbert’s house with 
holy water, proceeded to stone it. But notwith- 
standing derision and persecution, the little group 
grew. In 1871, when Mr. Gilbert was obliged to 
return to the United States, nineteen members had 
been received. Both the English and the Spanish 
congregations continued to worship in Calle 
Colegio until July 29, 1869, when a new building 
in Calle Nataniel, at the corner of Alonzo Ovalle, 
was completed and dedicated under the name of 
“Temple of the Most Holy Trinity.” This was 
the first building dedicated to the use of Chilean 
evangelicals in Chile, and constituted a notable inci- 
dent in their history. 

Naturally the fact produced a great sensation, 
not only in Santiago, but all over the country. 
Mr. Gilbert, with wonderful faith and vision, had 
been collecting funds for this object since his 
arrival in Chile in 1862, and in 1866 had on hand 
4,000 pesos, of which 3,000 had been contributed 
by English friends in Valparaiso. Of this sum, 
the well-known English firm of Williamson and 
Balfour, through many years loyal and generous 
friends of the Mission, gave 2,000. With this 
money Mr. Gilbert bought the land. The entire 
cost of the church building at that time was 10,000 


140 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 


pesos, of which the New York Society gave 3,000. 
The balance was donated little by little by English 
and American friends of the cause. All the work 
of construction was under the personal supervision 
of Mr. Gilbert, whose faith and courage overcame 
all obstacles. 

All the evangelical pastors at that time resident 
in Chile, Trumbull, Gilbert, Merwin, Sayre, and 
Swaney of Talcahuano, were present and officiated 
at the dedication. The congregation filled the edi- 
fice, and curious onlookers, the street. The follow- 
ing Sunday, August 5, the first communion in the 
new building was celebrated, being the sixth in the 
history of the Chilean Church. 

Mr. Gilbert died in 1876. To him belongs the 
honor of having organized the first Chilean evan- 
gelical church, and of having built the first Chilean 
evangelical temple. When the first Chilean 
pastor, Jose Manuel Ibafiez, was ordained, he 
preached the sermon. 

In 1868, Mr. Merwin left Santiago to undertake 
Spanish work in Valparaiso, and on September 27 
of that year the first evangelical service in Spanish 
was held in the port, with an attendance of sixty 
people. Dr. Trumbull took part in the service and 
Mr. Merwin preached the sermon, and from that 
time on regular Spanish services were held weekly. 

On October 8, 1869, the second Chilean evan- 
gelical church was organized in Valparaiso. The 
simple creed and confession of faith which its mem- 
bers signed is a historical document full of interest. 
Its preamble reads as follows: 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 141 





“ Believing it to be the duty of all to become 
reconciled to God through the Saviour, to confess 
Christ before men, profess the faith of the gospel, 
and pledge themselves to the observance of the 
divine command, we the undersigned hereby pro- 
fess the following fundamental doctrines of the 
gospel, pledging ourselves in mutual alliance to 
obey Jesus Christ, trusting in His merits for sal- 
vation, and soliciting divine grace that we may be 
faithful disciples of the Lord and worthy members 
of His visible Church. 


(Signed) ‘“ Lorenzo Escopar. 
“CARMEN Ruiz. 
“ Merrcepes A. DE KRUNISKE. 
“GUMECINDA F‘Ay DE OLIVARES. 
“ POLICARPO F'LoRES VERDUGO.”’ 


At the first communion, held on October 17 of 
the same year, these persons made a public profes- 
sion of faith, Mr. Merwin preached the sermon, 
Dr. Trumbull administered the sacrament, and 
some twenty members of Union Church partici- 
pated with their Chilean brethren. 

Both in Valparaiso and in Santiago the same 
buildings served for many years for both foreign 
and Spanish congregations, the foreigners having 
a morning service and the Spanish service being 
held in the evening. 

In 1869 the historic church building in San 
Agustin, Valparaiso, was sold to the German con- 
gregation, and Union Church was moved to a more 
central location on Calle Condell, where a new 


142 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





building had been erected, which, much enlarged 
and beautified, they still occupy. 

In 1879 the Chilean congregation in Valparaiso 
purchased the San Agustin building from the 
Germans for 5,545 pesos, of which Mr. Balfour 
donated 1,000. ‘The rest was lent by friends and 
paid two years later by special gifts. 

About this time, 1868-1869, English work was 
begun in Copiapo and Talcahuano, which, as in 
Santiago and Valparaiso, was later extended to 
Chileans. 


CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS 


As Dr. Trumbull went about his work, two 
reforms came to seem to him of such absolute 
necessity that he devoted himself untiringly to 
bringing them about, and even went so far as to 
promise that when they were assured he would 
become a Chilean citizen. 

As early as 1875 a movement was set on foot to 
secure legislation for civil marriage, freedom of 
burial, and civil registry of births and deaths. It 
is difficult to imagine the excitement caused by even 
the suggestion of these reforms. But Dr. Trum- 
bull, through his articles in the press, had gained a 
hearing and was universally respected, even by 
those who most furiously opposed his ideas. He 
gradually acquired great personal influence with the 
leaders of the Liberal party, and was frequently 
consulted by them. ‘They had learned to trust his 
judgment. When feeling concerning these re- 
form measures rose so high that civil war threat- 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 148 





ened, he was called four times to Santiago to con- 
sult with President Santa Maria and the members 
of his Cabinet who were behind the movement. 
Conditions which made such legislation imperative 
and the advantages to the country which it would 
bring are set forth in the following extract from an 
article from his pen, entitled ““ Mixed Marriages,” 
and published in Hi Ferrocarril in June, 1863: 

“ In order to marry in Chile, it is indispensable, 
according to the law, that both of the contracting 
parties shall be of the same religion, whether 
Romanist or Protestant. Except in some cases in 
past years in the diocese of Bishop Elizondo of 
Concepcion and others at present under the toler- 
ant administration of Sr. Donoso of Coquimbo, 
this law is inflexibly applied in the entire republic. 
And whatever may have been the object of this 
law, we shall show that its effects are not in accord 
with social purity, but entirely contrary thereto and 
disastrous; neither is it in accord with the natural 
liberty of the individual, which is continually 
trodden under foot. 

“Here we have the consequences of the actual 
law which compels those who wish to marry to pro- 
fess to be nominally of the same religion. It is 
plainly to be seen that the honorable, upright, and 
believing evangelical is thrown out, and the man 
who believes nothing, or who is not upright or 
honorable, is received. Under these conditions, 
our families, priests, and the country at large will 
soon be undeceived. For this reason the number 
of skeptics is increasing, and we recommend to 


144 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





every serious and thoughtful man among the Chil- 
eans that he take this matter under consideration, 
and see if we have not discovered in the present law 
concerning marriage a source of evil which under- 
mines religious faith in circles where the influence 
of foreigners is felt. 

“We have thus far presented one phase of the 
results of the law of marriage; but there is another 
which merits perhaps even more serious attention. 
There are those who refuse to profess to be what 
they are not, not consenting to falsify their con- 
victions, and resolved not to change the religion of 
their fathers in order to marry. It is important to 
note the way out which they elect, and we must 
confess that many of them depart from the paths 
of virtue, choosing between two evils that which 
they esteem to be the less. As they cannot marry 
according to law, they enter into intimate relations 
contrary to the law. It may be said with apparent 
justice that, in preferring concubinage to sacrilege, 
they are inconsistent; but it is not a question of 
inconsistency, but of visible facts and palpable 
evils. Such cases are not infrequent: on the con- 
trary, they are numerous and cause corruption. 
This being one of the evils which we should recog- 
nize, permit us to indicate it clearly and expressly. 

“We will note first its effect on the woman, 
because there its results are first seen. 'The woman 
who gives herself to an illicit relationship is inevi- 
tably corrupted. It may be that she loves the man 
and that she is entirely faithful to him, and that 
she becomes a mother. But she is not a wife. The 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 145 





noble dignity of the mother of a family does not 
sustain her, because in society it does not belong to 
her. She presents herself, even to her own chil- 
dren, as offended in her dignity and leading an 
indefensible manner of life. Further than this, it 
often happens that the woman is afterward aban- 
doned by the father of her children. He who has 
formed such an alliance does not consider himself 
bound, perhaps, to be very faithful to his verbal 
and private promises to the woman. In uncounted 
cases it has happened that the Chilean woman, 
mother of a family but not married, although on 
her part disposed to the utmost fidelity, finds her- 
self entirely without means, having been deserted 
by her companion, which could not have happened 
so easily if the law had made their marriage pos- 
sible. or example, listen to a sad story which has 
recently come to our knowledge, of the evil fortune 
which befell a daughter of the country and her 
children, through a foreign father: 

“A North American officer who resided in this 
port some six or eight years ago entered into rela- 
tions with a young Chilean girl. A son was born 
to them and they continued living together until 
the man had reasons for wishing to leave Chile. 
Then he did not hesitate to abandon his son and the 
mother, who was about to be confined a second time. 
He left her with only a hundred pesos or so with 
which to live. Naturally the girl grew melancholy 
and died in her confinement, and the baby also. It 
is unnecessary to add that we judge the conduct of 
this man to be culpable and unworthy. And we 


146 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





cannot certainly affirm that these two would have 
married had the law permitted, although it is not 
improbable. But the fact is that the law did not 
permit them to correct their fault. It left them 
no choice beween abandonment or continuing to 
maintain an illicit and immoral relationship. ‘The 
law of the country worked against the Chilean 
mother, and furthermore favored the profligate 
foreign father. When he went, she could not insist 
on accompanying him to his country as his wife. 
She was left entirely defenseless, a Chilean woman 
oppressed by the laws of Chile, while her com- 
panion, a foreigner, assisted in his bad conduct by 
those very laws, went forth free of his obligations. 
We have here, therefore, a case in point to demon- 
strate how degrading, corrupting, and impolitic is 
the actual law concerning mixed marriages, with 
reference to women in Chile. 

“ Let us now note the fortune which befalls the 
children under the same law. They are illegiti- 
mate, and are in no better case than their mothers. 
The little boy who outlived his mother, in the case 
above cited, was left in such poverty that to this 
day he owes his maintenance to a poor working 
woman who received him into her house so that he 
should not perish beside his unfortunate mother. 
And such cases are continually happening. Entire 
families have been born in illegitimacy, whose 
fathers excuse it on the ground of the false profes- 
sion that they would have been obliged to make had 
they married. Such families may be found also 
begging their bread, because they have been aban- 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 147 





doned by the men who were the authors of their 
existence. ‘The children consequently grow up in 
ignorance, easily exposed to crime if they are boys, 
or to prostitution, if girls. 

“ But the corruption which flows from these 
illegal alliances, besides affecting the mother and 
her children, should be considered in its effect on 
the foreigner. He, in many cases, would marry if 
the way were open. Some have gone to the priest 
to inquire if there were no way to contract an 
honorable and legitimate marriage, and from this 
purpose they have not desisted until they have ex- 
hausted every means and have become convinced 
that it was impossible of accomplishment without 
denying their faith and professing falsely what they 
did not believe. For this reason, utterly dis- 
couraged, the lovers have decided to dispense with 
all rules and ceremonies and with the law itself. 
Thus they have formed the desired union, with the 
intention probably, at the beginning, of remaining 
faithful to each other, as some perhaps have really 
done, but not all. When afterward some motive 
for breaking these promises made in private pre- 
sents itself, in view of the lack of a civil tie, the man 
has been tempted to abandon his family, of which 
he should continue to be the protector, and which 
the law should oblige him to be. But here is the 
difficulty. How can the law oblige the man when 
the law says that it is not his family This law has 
insisted that the woman was not his wife, but his 
concubine; and that his sons are not legitimately 
such, but bastards. And when the man has wished 


148 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





to establish the contrary and legalize his marriage, 
cleansing the stain from his wife’s brow and liber- 
ating his offspring from the curse of their birth, he 
has always been denied. 

“It is not strange therefore that the man at last 
should avenge himself on such lack of social con- 
sideration. It happens that way. Humbled and 
disgusted, he says: ‘ All right: she is not my wife, 
they are not my legitimate children. As the law 
considers them, I will consider them, outside the 
law. If they are not legitimately mine and I am 
not legally their father, I will go to another country 
where I may have a wife who is not a concubine, 
and sons who are not bastards.’ 

“Certainly such conduct is not defensible, but 
infamous; but we have no words with which to 
characterize the error when the law makes possible 
such conduct, not to say favors it. What is more 
immoral than the abandonment by a father of his 
wife and children? It is an immorality against 
which the law should ceaselessly struggle. The 
Chilean law should at least protect Chilean women 
against the immoralities of those who come to 
these shores from foreign countries; and one way 
to do this would be to permit them entire liberty to 
marry, instead of discouraging them by inconsider- 
ate prohibitions. Because, the marriage once 
solemnized, albeit only civilly, the Chilean woman 
could demand her rights in any civilized country 
of the world, and before any court. Foreign gov- 
ernments would sustain Chilean law in this respect, 
extending their protection to wife and children and 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 149 





obliging the father, the legal husband, to give 
shelter and protection to those who are united to 
him by the ties of nature. It is in this respect that 
there should be legislation, if not for any higher 
motive, in defense of the inhabitants of the nation. 
Leave the man free to contract the union which he 
desires, by means of an honorable marriage, when 
he asks for it, and then he cannot abandon the 
Chilean woman and return to his country to con- 
tract other ties, despising those already contracted 
here; neither can he have there a legitimate family 
while in this country his first-born, Chileans all, beg 
their bread, perhaps, and in every case wear the 
brand of bastards. 

“ How much more reasonable and useful would 
be the policy to take out of the way everything 
which does not promote morality and social purity, 
leaving it free so that each foreigner who wishes to 
establish a home and family may do so, as a good 
and worthy citizen, and as a virtuous and attentive 
father! It is nothing but blindness to persist in a 
practice which produces such pernicious results: on 
the one hand, sacrilegious hypocrisy, and on the 
other, concubinage.” 

In spite of the most inscrupulous opposition and 
the teaching of the state Church that “ civil mar- 
riage is stupid concubinage,” and that all who are 
so married are “subject to the penalties estab- 
lished by the Church against public prostitutes,” 
Chile passed the Civil Marriage Law in 1883, and 
in 1886, in conformity with his promise, Dr. 
Trumbull became a Chilean citizen. 


150 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





GrRowTH OF THE PRESBYTERIAN Mission 


Some of the more significant developments in the 
Protestant movement in Chile have been indicated 
in the preceding pages. In this closing section a 
summary is given of the growth of the Presby- 
terian Mission. 

The first Protestant Mission in Chile was es- 
tablished by the American Foreign Christian 
Union, and was transferred to the Presbyterian 
Board in 1873. In 1846, Valparaiso was occupied 
by David Trumbull, D.D., sent there by the Sea- 
man’s Friend Society and the American and For- 
eign Christian Union. Dr. Trumbull labored 
mostly for the English-speaking people, but did 
much for the Chileans through the press and in 
connection with our Mission, with which he co- 
operated until his death in 1889. In 1866, Rev. 
A. M. Merwin took charge of the Spanish work. 
He began to preach in 1868, and a church was 
organized in 1869. Rev. W. E. Dodge was sent 
out in 1883; he was soon called to be associate 
pastor of the Union Church for English-speaking 
residents, but was identified with our Mission. 
Succeeding missionaries carried forward regular 
Church work, established a school for boys and 
girls, a Sheltering Home for orphan children, a 
baby dispensary, a Union Training School for 
Women, and a religious paper known as Heraldo 
Evangelico. In Santiago, the capital, work was 
begun in 1868. The Instituto Internacional, a 
boarding school for boys, was begun in 1877; in 


THE HISTORY OF THE CHILE MISSION 151 





1898 the name was changed to Instituto Ingles. 
The church in Concepcion was founded in 1880. 
In Taltal, work was begun in 1888. Curico is an 
outstation of Santiago. 

In 1888 the Government granted the Mission a 
charter, whereby “ those who profess the Reformed 
Church religion according to the doctrines of Holy 
Scripture, may promote primary and superior in- 
struction according to modern methods and prac- 
tice, and propagate the worship of their belief obedi- 
ent to the laws of the land ”; and “ this corporation 
may acquire lands and buildings necessary for the 
expressed object, and retain the same by act of the 
Legislature.” 

FLORENCE KE. SmitH 


CHAPTER XV 
EDUCATION IN CHILE 


Tue SPIRIT OF THE CONQUERORS 


HILH, like all other Hispano-American re- 
publics, entered into touch with European life 
and civilization as a colony of Spain. ‘The handful 
of daring men who wrested its territory from the 
hardy races of Araucania were rude and unlettered, 
soldiers rather than statesmen. Of the 150 men 
who accompanied Pedro de Valdivia, only 61 could 
read and many of these with difficulty, while in 
writing but few could do more than sign their 
names. The carrying out of their purposes — the 
acquirement of gold and glory — did not demand 
the presence of men of learning and even the propa- 
gation of their religion, which was one of the prin- 
cipal motives which drove them to the shores of the 
New World, was carried out by force rather than 
by any process that might have sprung from a 
knowledge of books. 

Moreover, for many years the homes established 
in the New World did not produce a school popula- 
tion, and the need of setting up a political machine 
took precedence over that of erecting schools. 

However, a few of the ruling spirits, even during 
the years of the conquest, showed interest in matters 
of education, and the first teacher to exercise his 

152 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 153 





profession in Santiago, Hernandez de Paterna, had 
gathered a few pupils about him as early as 1548. 
Alonso de Escudero maintained a school in the 
same city in 1550-1552, and other teachers, some of 
them coming from Peru, from which colony they 
had been expelled by the Holy Office of the Inqui- 
sition because of liberal principles, followed his 
example in the succeeding years. But all these 
early attempts were but desultory, since there was 
no general interest in education, and the royal 
exchequer was unable or unwilling to help. Prob- 
ably the real attitude of the royal house toward 
education was afterward well summed up_ by 
Charles IV, who, when a question arose concerning 
the chair of mathematics in the University of Cara- 
cas, abruptly dismissed the matter with the excla- 
mation, “ It is not expedient to educate the Amer- 
icans.” 


Tue BEGINNINGS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL 


As has been the ease in all primitive civilizations, 
the public school was first established in the shadow 
of the Church. The authorities of the Roman 
Catholic communion, which was the only form of 
Christianity permitted in the Spanish colonies, de- 
creed that each convent should see to it that an 
elementary school formed a part of its work, and 
that in every diocese provision should be made for 
a grammar school. ‘This decree was more often 
honored in the breach than in its observance, since 
the bishoprics could not provide the funds neces- 


154 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





sary for the purpose, but the ideal was launched and 
the teaching orders rose to its fulfillment as rapidly 
as possible. 

The Franciscans were the first to arrive (1553), 
and, in spite of the anarchy which reigned after the 
death of Pedro de Valdivia, founded grammar 
schools with elementary sections. 'They were fol- 
lowed by the Dominicans and these by the follow- 
ers of Ignatius de Loyola and St. Augustine, and 
these and other orders developed their systems of 
instruction during the following centuries as best 
they could. The Jesuits, in particular, have sus- 
tained good schools and have made a valuable con- 
tribution to the general elevation of culture in the 
country. 


EpuCcATION DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD 


In this chapter it is impossible to enter into the 
detail of the development of educational programs. 
But, in a general way, it may be said that during 
the three centuries in which Spain ruled Chile as a 
colony, education was almost entirely in the hands 
of the clergy. The principal object of the Church, 
as in other colonies of Spain and wherever it has 
been dominant, was to maintain its own supremacy 
in all matters educational as well as material. The 
Dominicans and the Jesuits were the first to es- 
tablish secondary schools, and their special object 
was the preparation of their own novitiates, just 
as in North America the first colleges were estab- 
lished in order to prepare young men for the 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 155 





Protestant ministry. However, a few others were 
admitted to instruction, if they could pay the fees 
demanded, and thus began that favoritism of the 
moneyed classes which has done much to establish 
intellectual as well as social caste in Chile. 

Until 1812, that is, after the declaration of inde- 
pendence from Spain, there was no school for girls 
in Chile, and all curriculums for the male sex were 
strictly modeled on the programs of the Spanish 
universities. The end of all instruction was to 
secure the veneration of God and the king. ‘This 
implied a blind submission to both ecclesiastical 
and civil authority and all students, on receiving a 
higher degree, were obliged to make a confession 
of faith in which they took the oath of obedience 
to the king and the viceroys. 

But a spirit of freedom was stirring, and in 1738 
a university was founded in Santiago, which, be- 
cause of having received its charter from King 
Philip V, and in honor of this monarch, was called 
the University of St. Philip. This university con- 
tinued to grant degrees until 1842, when it was 
dissolved in order to give way to the University 
of Chile, which was organized on a more liberal 
basis, with greater freedom from the domination of 
the clergy. 


DURING THE EARLY YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC 


Most of the men who were influential in securing 
national independence were deeply interested in 
public education. Free schools were immediately 


156 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 
LL SS Se SE SSS SSS HS) 


established, many of them under laymen, and the 
Lancasterian system of mutual instruction was in- 
troduced in 1821 by David Thomson, the repre- 
sentative of the British and Foreign Bible Society 
as well as of the English School Society which had 
become responsible for the extension of the prin- 
ciples of Joseph Lancaster. Thomson was con- 
tracted by the new Government to found schools 
like those which he had already established in 
Argentina, and one of the convents of the city 
was put at his disposal. A Normal School, 
founded by him, soon reported two hundred stu- 
dents, and the system was extended to other parts 
of the republic with astonishing success. Camilo 
Henriquez, the priest patriot, who had been exiled 
from Peru, by the officers of the Inquisition, 
because of his liberal ideas, did much to help Thom- 
son in the establishing of his system, as did also 
Bernardo O’Higgins, the Supreme Dictator, and 
Jose de San Martin, the Argentine liberator of 
Chile from the power of Spain. Due to the im- 
possibility of securing properly trained monitors 
and teachers, the Lancasterian system was later 
abandoned, but not until its influence had been felt 
throughout the country. One of its most notable 
results was the founding of the first Normal School 
in Chile, in 1842, since this State institution was 
built on the foundations of the one founded by 
Thomson, which was not recognized as a part of 
the national system of education. 'Thomson was 
honored, as he had been in Argentina, by being 
made an honorary citizen of the republic, and it was 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 157 





not the fault of the system or its founder that it 
was finally discontinued to give place to a more 
national system of public instruction. 


DvuRING THE SECOND HALF oF THE NINETEENTH 
CENTURY 


Among the great men who contributed to the 
advancement of education in Chile, during this 
period, was the Argentine patriot, Domingo Faus- 
tino Sarmiento, who, for political reasons, was 
obliged to abandon his own country for a number of 
years. His principal work was through the 
medium of the press, but he aided much in develop- 
ing new and more liberal ideals in matters of edu- 
cation. He was the first commissioner sent by the 
republic of Chile to the United States and the 
countries of Kurope to treat of educational matters, 
and to him, more than to anyone else, is due the 
“ Americanization ” of education in Argentina and 
Chile. Normal instruction in Argentina was in- 
augurated by him, on his return, and, at his request, 
an evangelical missionary was empowered to find 
and contract a certain number of Normal School 
teachers in the United States. 

Little by little, due to the influence of liberal 
leaders, primary schools were established in most 
of the leading villages and towns of Chile, before 
the beginning of the last quarter of the past cen- 
tury. Statistics of 1880 show that at that time 
there were 620 public and 405 private primary 
schools, with a total of 64,900 pupils. Secondary 
education had also been extended, especially 


158 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





through the founding of the Instituto Nacional, in 
1813, and similar institutions, known as liceos, in 
Santiago and provincial cities. Many excellent 
teachers were contracted in Europe and the entire 
educational system was modernized and extended 
before the beginning of the present century. 

It was at the very beginning of the last quarter 
of the nineteenth century, too, that the first evan- 
gelical schools were founded in Chile, and, as will 
be shown in a later paragraph, the small beginnings 
have grown into an extensive system which has con- 
tributed much to the intellectual and moral uplift 
of the Chilean people. 


THe PRESENT-Day SITUATION 


To-day, there are few republics of Latin Amer- 
ica which are striving so energetically as is Chile to 
reduce the heavy percentage of analphabets in the 
general population and to modernize the educa- 
tional system of the country in order to equal the 
best of the world. A new law has been recently 
passed which provides for obligatory primary in- 
struction and efforts are now being made to meet 
the requirements of that law by the construction 
of new school buildings and the preparation of a 
larger number of teachers. While no exact statis- 
tics on the point can be given, it is probable that 
at least sixty per cent of the population is illiterate. 
This is an unfavorable showing, but is much better 
than that of some of the republics farther north 
where the percentage must run as high as ninety- 
five per cent. 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 159 


In 1919, the latest year for which statistics are 
available, there were 3,190 public primary schools 
in the country, with a total registration of 315,111 
pupils. The expense to the nation for these 
schools was $22,689,958.65, Chilean currency, or 
about $2,800,000, American gold. In the suc- 
ceeding years there has been a considerable in- 
crease in attendance on the primary schools and in 
the amount expended on them, but figures are not 
available. 

In 1923, as reported by the president of the 
state university, secondary instruction was given in 
43 liceos, or high schools, scattered throughout the 
country, to 20,030 students. The termination of 
the course of secondary studies prepares the student 
for entering the university, and gives him the de- 
gree of Bachelor in Humanities. This is a sine qua 
non for entrance on professional studies in the 
university. 

In the same year, and according to the same 
report, the School of Pedagogy, which functions 
under the control of the university, had a registra- 
tion of 1,086 students, the majority of whom were 
women. The registration in the other faculties 
was as follows: Fine Arts, 734; School of Medi- 
cine, 779; School of Pharmacy, 361; School of 
Dentistry, 214; School of Law, 983; School of En- 
gineering, 158; School of Architecture, 65. Men 
and women are admitted equally to all courses of 
the state university and in some of the faculties the 
women surpass the men in numbers. ‘The instruc- 
tion given in the university is of a very high grade, 


160 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





probably equal to that which is given in any of the 
American universities, and the equipment provided 
by the state is generous and up-to-date. Yet this 
university, like others of Latin America, laments 
the fact that, while it can instruct, it fails to edu- 
cate, to develop strong character in its graduates. 
One of its recent presidents is quoted as saying: 
“We are able to imstruct, but we do not seem able 
to form men. We cannot educate.’ Having 
broken with the only Christian Church which the 
people of Chile have known, the university seems 
to have gone to the other extreme and to have 
excluded God from its classrooms. ‘The state sys- 
tem of instruction has been not only laicized but 
also dechristianized. 

In addition to the figures given above, the state 
maintains faculties of law in both Concepcion and 
Valparaiso. In the former there are 98 students 
and in the latter 91. ‘The University of Concep- 
cion, which is of a private nature, also registers a 
large number of students in its various faculties. 
All degrees are given by the state university, and 
examinations must be given by its chosen com- 
missions. In this way, private schools of whatever 
nature are restrained from giving degrees and the 
whole educational system is unified and maintained 
at a high level. 

A feature of secondary education in Chile which 
will doubtless seem strange to the North American 
reader is the conduct by the Government of board- 
ing schools for boys in the capital and other cities. 
These schools provide housing and boarding ac- 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 161 





commodations under state auspices for students 
whose families live in rural districts. 


Roman CaTHOLic SCHOOLS 
The Roman Catholic Church, believing that the 


instruction given in the schools of the state is 
atheistic and antichristian, maintains a large num- 
ber of primary and secondary schools and has even 
organized and equipped a Catholic university which 
very largely parallels the courses of its neighbor, 
the state university, to which its students must go 
if they are to receive degrees that habilitate them 
for practice of the learned professions in the 
country. 

The Jesuits, the Christian Brothers, and a num- 
ber of other orders carry on well-equipped schools 
for boys, and have educated a large number of men 
who are to-day prominent in the different spheres 
of national life, and congregations of nuns provide 
for the instruction of many of the young ladies of 
the upper social classes. The instruction given by 
the nuns is generally superficial and largely de- 
voted to the securing of the adherence of the woman 
to the Church, but this is preferred by the very 
Catholic families, rather than a more modern and 
more practical education such as could be secured 
in the state schools or in those of the evangelical 
Missions. 

But the Roman Catholic Church must be cred- 
ited with having done a great deal in the education 
of the young people of Chile, in past years, and its 
contribution of to-day is of great value. 


162 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





EVANGELICAL SCHOOLS 


The oldest evangelical school in Chile is the 
Instituto Ingles which was founded in Copiapo, in 
1874, by Rev. Julius Christen, who afterward be- 
came a member of the Presbyterian Mission, which 
began its work in Chile in 1873. In 1877 the 
school was moved to Santiago, the capital city, 
where it has since contributed generously to the 
sum of Christian education in Chile. Until 1897 
it was known as the Instituto Internacional, but, at 
that time, due to a reorganization of its courses, it 
adopted the name which it now bears. Both pri- 
mary and secondary instruction are given and as 
many as 350 boys have been registered in a single 
year. The boarding department has always been 
popular and has drawn boys not only from all Chile 
but also from neighboring republics. A com- 
mercial course which was maintained for a number 
of years prepared a large number of young men for 
commerce, while from the regular secondary course 
a few have gone to the United States for further 
study, others have entered the state institutions in 
ofder to secure a degree, and many have gone into 
the various industries of the country. The grad- 
uates of the school are to be found in practically 
all the leading professions. Few have gone into 
the Christian ministry, yet the influence of the 
school has been a very considerable contribution 
to the general evangelistic work of the Presby- 
terian Mission, since, through the liberalizing of the 
more intellectual classes which it has reached, it 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 163 


has made the more direct methods more easily 
applicable. 

Since the reorganization in 1897, the majority of 
the foreign members of the faculty have been young 
men who have come from the colleges and universi- 
ties of North America as short-term or contract 
teachers. Due to the financial situation in Chile, 
this system is becoming difficult, since the cost of 
travel and salary, when reduced to Chilean pesos, 
in which the school receives its income, is impossibly 
high. ‘Three missionary families now give their 
time to the school, and there are a number of 
national teachers who prepare the students in the 
courses which lead to the university degree. 

The school has outworn its present equipment. 
The main building was occupied more than thirty 
years ago and shows the result of hard usage. If 
the Instituto is to continue to compete with the 
state and Roman Catholic institutions, it must be 
provided with new and more attractive quarters or 
undergo an extensive remodeling and renovation 
of the old. It must be added, too, that the city 
has grown in the opposite direction, and that, in 
general, the families from which the school should 
draw its students now live far away. 

The present plan is to dispose of the present 
property and purchase a larger site in a more favor- 
able location, on which new and modern buildings 
should be erected. If this can be done, it is prob- 
able that the school can continue for many years 
to serve the cause of evangelical education in Chile 
through contributing just that element which the 


164 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





state frankly admits that it cannot impart and 
which the dominant Church has ever neglected, the 
building up of Christian character. 

The Presbyterian Mission has also a well-or- 
ganized system of parochial schools in Valparaiso 
where nearly a thousand of the children of the 
poorer classes receive a Christian primary educa- 
tion at very reduced prices. A new and up-to-date 
building is used as a Normal School in which a 
number of young ladies are being trained as future 
teachers. ‘The central school, which occupies the 
principal building, cares for the majority of the 
children, in the way of classrooms and instruction, 
while a number of branch schools strategically 
located in the poorer sections of the city provide 
rooms for the classes by day, which also serve as 
chapels for evangelistic services at night. 

These and similar schools maintained by the 
evangelical Missions have done much to provide 
primary instruction for the children of the poorer 
classes, and especially for those of Protestant 
families who are often persecuted in the state 
schools if not actually refused admission. Such 
schools also serve as feeders for the evangelistic 
church services, since they contribute to the Sun- 
day-school and church attendance, and many of the 
children come into active church membership. 

The second evangelical school to be founded in 
Chile was the Santiago College, of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, in Santiago. It was opened 
about 1880 and has had an unusually prominent 
and helpful part in the education of girls and young 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 165 





women of the influential classes of Chilean society. 
The average attendance at present is about 400, 
and thousands of women who to-day occupy posi- 
tions of influence in society have been helped by 
their contact with the Christian teachers of this 
institution. The Methodist Episcopal Mission 
also has a large coeducational school in Iquique, 
and an important school for each of the sexes in 
Concepcion, all of which have been doing good 
work, for many years, and making a real contri- 
bution to the intellectual and moral life of the 
country. 

The Baptists (Southern) have a fine school for 
girls in ‘Temuco, and in the same city Anglicans 
earry on two schools for children of the colonists 
of English speech. ‘The South American Mission- 
ary Society, of this same Church, maintains, in the 
vicinity of ‘Temuco, a number of schools for the 
children of the Mapuche tribe of Indians and, 
because of the practical education given, is doing 
much toward the physical and moral uplift of the 
hapless Indian and the training of his children for 
better service as citizens of Chile. Other Missions, 
such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, 
maintain parochial schools, principally for their 
own people, but no statistics as to numbers or 
attendance are available. 

In the way of industrial education, the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Mission has bought and equipped a 
large farm in the southern part of the agricultural 
section, near the city of Angol, and is here en- 
deavoring to prepare a number of young men as 


166 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





experts in practical agriculture who may later go 
out as Christian teachers of this important industry 
among the many thousands of country people who 
have never been brought into contact with evan- 
gelical Christianity. Probably no greater contri- 
bution could be made to the eventual uplift of the 
people of Chile than through such institutions. 
Some of the Board secretaries and missionaries 
who are closely related to the religious problems of 
Chile, have raised the question of the need of con- 
tinuing evangelical education in this country. The 
greatly improved conditions, from a pedagogical 
standpoint, because of the great increase in number 
of the state schools and the more modern and strin- 
gent legislation in regard to obligatory primary 
instruction, have seemed to some to warrant the 
assumption that the evangelical Missions might 
well suspend their educational efforts and devote 
all their energies to more direct evangelistic effort. 
While it is undoubtedly true that there is more 
and better instruction, under the control of the 
state, than there was when the evangelical schools 
were opened, now almost fifty years ago, the writer 
of these lines believes that there is still the same 
clamant need for Christian education that then 
existed. The state cannot meet this need and 
frankly confesses that it cannot. ‘The dominant 
Church has not done so and seems to be making no 
effort in that direction. The evangelical educator 
alone is alive to the situation and, with but meager 
equipment at his disposal, is endeavoring to meet it. 
Without the guidance of religion, education is 


EDUCATION IN CHILE 167 





impoverished and unable to initiate youth into the 
proper way of life. ‘The school must combat both 
ignorance and sin, and, until this is done, it fulfills 
but half its office. The evangelical school, in Chile 
as in other lands, endeavors to educate on a Chris- 
tian basis, as well as to instruct according to mod- 
ern methods, and, for this reason, if for no other, 
will be needed for many years to come and merits 
the whole-hearted support of Missions and Boards. 


WeEBSTER EK. BROWNING. 


CHAPTER XVI 


THE ADVANCE PROGRAM AND NEEDS OF THE 
CHILE MISSION 


T the meeting of the Chile Mission, January 
5-16, 1925, when the delegation was present, 
the probable property needs for several years to 
come were studied and the Mission voted to approve 
of the list which is given below. It is hoped that 
some of the items in the first group can be covered 
in the Latin American Campaign scheduled for 
1925-1926. 


PREFERRED Property LIST 


1925-1926 

Land, Buildings, and Equipment for Instituto 

sarees EM ATIULA PONS fle usis lpi e lola: cuateeateeit «8 Vet yd el chau $150,000 
Church and Manse, San Fernando..... $5,000 
Church and Manse, Vallenar.......... 2,000 
Church, Social Center, and Manse, The 

Most Holy Trinity, Santiago........ 25,000 
Manse, Santa Inez 

(Valparaiso) ....$1,500 


Manse, Salvador 
Church (Santiago) 1,500 
Manse, Rancagua .. 1,500 


Manse, Chillan .... 1,500 6,000 
Social Hall, 

Concepcion... .. 350 
Chapel, Lirquen ... 150 500 
Chapel sLanares 20 a5 ee ie eenteme wis file 1,200 
Chapel) Reni ii J5ts aise ee te 1,000 
ChapebuPlaseres tia ee eae ee 1,000 





41,700 








NEEDS OF THE CHILE MISSION 169 
1926-1927 
Church, Union Cristiana, Santiago .... 8,000 
Church and Manse, Taltal ......... 5,000 
School Building, Concepcion ........ 600 
Cet CIESY 2c) AVICE a her cd oie che’ b xoata <> 1,000 
ROBERN LOM e tle we Wk Poly a gels! «(nls » 500 
ene, Monte Aguila oe)... se + 300 
15,400 
1927-1928 
DRAGON ALMNCARUG. SL ily avs s'« 0 2,800 
Church and Manse, Parral ......... 2,000 
Aspen. CONSEEMCION 2). + vine a slew 0s 4,000 
Chapel and School, Carmen Lots, 
IMEEM eter eo le teaches a ahs. 9 1,000 
9,800 
1928-1929 
Church and Manse, San Javier ..... 3,000 
AIM HA NTD 2 CHT IOE Belg eens 51a <i sy 51> 2,000 
Chapel, Playa Ancha (Valparaiso) .... 4,000 
9,000 
1929-1930 
OSTATIC RE OTISD here 5 Wa, eeed ms vba kes 3,000 
SSB EL AN PANLONIO. s os.e 5 « creeds o> 4,000 
7,000 





$232,900 


5 go) Chae vey 
2 bing» ef, Aa aa oallla 
read the ade ahs f ‘i 0 


sf 


‘¥ 
, pe 1. 
\ 
i 
f 
he 
; 
{ 
g 
H 
) 
*+ 
f 


‘ , 
ee ello A I 
abit ; uy 4 
PUP eee & 


‘ 
La | 
j 

us 
a 
th 
Nya 
7 
ial 
DA 
” 





PARTS LT 
BRAZIL 


/ 
\ As . 
; f 


j fe 

s 

‘ ed 
, ; 


aang 
Reese hr ihe 





CHAPTER I 
ROLLING DOWN TO RIO 


On Boarp SouTHERN Cross, 
March 12, 1925 


“Great steamers, white and gold, 
Go rolling down to Rio, 
And Id love to roll to Rio, 
Some day before I’m old!” 


O Rudyard Kipling has written, and soloists, 

undergraduate and otherwise, have sung; 

during these past twelve days we have translated 
song and verse into unforgettable reality. 

The steamers of the Pan-America Line of the 
United States Shipping Board, operated by the 
Munson Steamship Company, are indeed white and 
gold. The Southern Cross, on which we sailed 
from New York on the last day of February, is 
one of the Shipping Board’s “ 535’s,” a steamer 
535 feet in length and of about 14,000 tons register. 
The four sister ships of the Munson Line, of which 
the Southern Cross is one, are capable of eighteen 
knots and are the largest and fastest liners on the 
run between New York and Rio and Buenos Aires. 
The Southern Cross is painted a glistening white, 
and with its shining brass work and railings pre- 
sents a picture quite in keeping with Kipling’s 
verse. 

173 


174 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Every ocean voyage has its own characteristics 
and atmosphere. Who can forget the haunting 
music and decorative leis of Honolulu and the 
‘““murmurous, soft Hawaiian sea”’; the invigorat- 
ing breezes that blow from off the Aleutian islands 
and the cold, gray waves under North Pacific skies; 
the diurnal somersault or forward, at the crossing 
of the one hundred and eightieth meridian? So 
those who go “rolling down to Rio” will have 
unique experiences and memories. Perhaps most 
typical is the ceremony observed at the crossing of 
the Equator, and this I will attempt to describe. 

On the evening of the seventh we saw the power- 
ful searchlight of our ship send its glowing shafts 
over the sea off our bows. Then, apparently 
out of the sea, and directly over the bow of the 
ship, appeared a figure in white, flowing robes, 
carrying a trident, which moved to the center of 
the forward deck and announced that he was 
Triton, and that Neptune would board the ship on 
the ninth and would initiate all those who had not 
previously entered his equatorial realm. With a 
parting cry to beware, Triton disappeared over the 
bow, the passing of his float being marked by a 
blazing buoy that floated fast astern and that 
winked and gleamed on the far horizon long after 
he had disappeared. 

We crossed the Equator the night of the eighth 
and on the afternoon of the ninth all passengers 
assembled on the after deck. At three o’clock the 
ship’s orchestra appeared, heading a strange pro- 
cession. In the first rank came Neptune (Dr. R. 


ROLLING DOWN TO RIO 175 





E. Speer), a gigantic, bearded figure festooned in 
maritime robes with the severe and judicial aspect 
of Michelangelo’s Moses; Neptune’s queen and 
daughter; a prosecuting attorney (Dr. S. G. 
Inman), dressed in high silk hat and black robe; 
and a group of examiners and guards armed with 
all types of instruments of torture. Neptune 
called his court to order, and the prosecuting attor- 
ney read the names of the neophytes who were to 
be initiated. These appeared before the king and 
were given various sentences. ‘The neophytes in- 
cluded such well-known individuals as Bishop F’. J. 
McConnell, Professor D. J. Fleming, Mrs. Robert 
EK. Speer, and Mrs. James Cushman, and the court 
was in session for more than two hours as sentences 
were passed and ruthlessly carried out. Later 
each neophyte was given a diploma, which read: 
Neptunus Rex 


“To all fish affluent or indigent and other dwell- 
ers of the vasty deep: 
“ Greeting: We, Neptunus Rex, exalted Poten- 
tate of the Deep Sea, do certify and proclaim that 
. aboard the good steamship Southern Cross on 
March 9, 1925, was duly initiated into the mys- 
teries of the Order of the Trident, instructed as to 
the sign of the Lobscouse and the password of the 
Brotherhood of the Salt Horse, and is, therefore, 
hereby constituted a Sea Urchin with all privileges 
and emoluments, if any, appertaining thereto. 


‘““ Attested — Neptunus Rex. 
“ Commander — Joun G. F ELS.” 


176 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





The mechanical inventions which safeguard life 
and aid navigation on such a ship as the Southern 
Cross are impressive. Captain John G. Fels and 
the officers of the Southern Cross were most cor- 
dial, and the former invited us to the bridge to 
inspect the apparatus there. The ship was steered 
by a gyrocompass, an adaptation of the principle 
of the gyroscope, which was used in the war in the 
self-direction of torpedoes. ‘The course is set by 
the compass, and if the ship deviates from it, elec- 
tric contacts are made through which power is 
applied to the rudder, the direction of the ship recti- 
fied, and the course maintained. ‘The captain said 
that the gyrocompass, or “ Iron Mike,” as it is famil- 
larly called, steered more truly than a man could 
do; but it seemed strange to us to see our great ship 
plowing through the ocean with no human hand at 
the wheel. Another invention which was given its 
first trial on our ship on our present trip was that 
of a radiocompass, by which the ship’s position 
could be ascertained in relation to certain land- 
marks when these were hidden by fog or were too 
far distant for communication except by radio. 
Certain hghthouses or stations known to navigators 
send out radio signals for the guidance of shipping. 
The radiocompass has an aérial like a magnified 
De Forest radio. Instead of turning this aérial at 
right angles to these sound waves from the distant 
station, so that the maximum sound is recorded, 
the aérial is turned until the sound is at a minimum, 
or until it ceases altogether. Thus the aérial is 
pointed directly, or almost directly, at the sending 


ROLLING DOWN TO RIO 177 


station, and its direction is recorded on the chart. 
By taking another observation in this way a few 
miles farther on, and since the course and speed of 
the ship are known, it is possible to ascertain the 
angles of the two lines of radio signal, and the 
intersection of these lines on the chart gives the 
position of the ship. If there are two radio sta- 
tions on shore at some distance from each other this 
process is simplified. 

Despite such safeguards the sea is not without 
its victims. Last summer the Southern Cross 
picked up six survivors of a Norwegian schooner 
which had sunk off Cape Hatteras in the great 
storm in which the Arabic and other vessels were 
endangered. ‘The six men were afloat on a raft 
made from wreckage and had been for six days 
and nights without food or water. Hovering 
around the raft were several sharks which were 
patiently waiting their time. ‘The third officer of 
the Southern Cross, who picked up the shipwrecked 
mariners, struck one of these sharks over the head 
with an oar and drove the others away so the sailors 
could be transferred safely to the lifeboat. Among 
the survivors was the colored cook of the sunken 
vessel. After the rescue, one of the Norwegian 
sailors remarked, “One more day, and we ban 
eat the cook.” All of the sailors rescued lived, and 
were landed safely in New York. 

With a knowledge of such narrow escapes from 
tragedy in mind, and with the recollection of what 
the early discoverers and conquistadores braved to 
cross these seas, and after a few minutes in the 


178 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





rooms of the radio operator surrounded by ma- 
chinery as intricate and awesome as the products 
of the imagination of H. G. Wells, or on the bridge, 
watching the wheel turning and keeping true to the 
course as if grasped by an unknown hand, we felt 
anew the greatness of this scientific age and the 
debt we owed to those who have pioneered in in- 
vention and discovery. 

Science has made the high seas safer, and in 
civilized lands has introduced comforts and luxu- 
ries unknown a generation ago, but there are sea- 
coasts and lands where there is much yet to be 
accomplished, and where the summons to service 
is still the call to the conquistador and the pioneer. 
There are many such areas in South America to- 
day, and on our ship are nearly fifty delegates to 
the Congress on Christian Work in South America, 
to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, who are repre- 
sentatives of the practical interest that the churches 
in North America are taking in this friendly serv- 
ice. Dr. Robert EK. Speer is chairman of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements for this congress, Dr. 
Samuel G. Inman is secretary, and there are dele- 
gates on board from eleven different denominations 
in the United States. Each morning a conference 
has been held, with one of the twelve Commission 
reports prepared for the congress as the topic of 
discussion. The fellowship on board has been true 
and fine and prophetic of that which is to come. 

The first evening after we entered the tropics 
the sunset was inexpressibly beautiful. In the east 
the sky was flooded with evanescent tints and mod- 


ROLLING DOWN TO RIO 179 





ulations of color which faded finally into a steady 
afterglow that warmed the whole horizon. In the 
west the clouds were fringed and tipped with fire 
so that they gleamed like the golden barriers of 
heaven itself. ‘Then “the sun’s rim dipped; the 
stars rushed out: at one stride came the dark.” We 
saw for the first time, low on the horizon, the 
Southern Cross, and above it the F'alse Cross, a 
distorted repetition of the symmetrical constellation 
below. A new moon rose and shone with a bright- 
ness and beauty that only tropical latitudes know. 
Our great steamer, white and gold, heaved majes- 
tically to the roll of the long Caribbean swell, and 
moved southward over the moonlit waters like a 
ship in a dream. Who would not love to go thus 
“ rolling down to Rio” ? 

But there are other joys and compensations in 
this journey more rich and abiding than those con- 
ferred by science and nature. Just as we have been 
gazing upon the Cross, True and False, in these 
southern heavens, so South America has looked 
upon two crosses. But the cross that has been held 
before it has been one falsely represented and dis- 
torted in meaning and message, and just as we 
believe that Luther was led by God to blaze the 
way for the Protestant Reformation in Europe 
four centuries ago, and to bring out in new relief 
the simplicity and direct saving power of the true 
cross, so we believe that God’s spirit is leading and 
guiding the evangelical and Protestant movement 
which was begun in South America only seventy 
years ago, whose light is shining with ever in- 


180 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





creasing brightness and glory over southern lands 
and seas. In Rio de Janeiro, where we land to- 
morrow, we shall see the first fruits of this move- 
ment; we are grateful for the opportunity of shar- 
ing in its service; and our prayer is that we of both 
North and South America may walk in the light 
as He is in the light, and so may have true fellow- 
ship one with another and with Him. 


W. R. W. 


CHAPTER II 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BRAZIL 


On Boarp S.S. Luretia, ComMpaanig Sup-ATLANTIQUE, 
March 23, 1925 


T sunrise on March 13 we entered the wonder- 

ful harbor of Rio de Janeiro; nine days later, 

on March 22, we sailed from the port of Santos 

for Montevideo. This letter will carry to you our 
first impressions of Brazil. 

The first fact that impresses one is that Brazil 
hes east as well as south of the United States. 
This “ easting ” of the continent brought about the 
Portuguese discovery of the country through ac- 
cident rather than by design. Vincente Pinzon, a 
Spaniard and former companion of Columbus, had 
explored the Brazilian coast near the mouth of the 
Amazon early in 1500, but his discovery was ig- 
nored by the Spanish Government, which was in- 
terested only in the reports from the “ Indies ” 
farther north. In 1497, Vaseo da Gama reached 
Calicut via the Cape of Good Hope, and had thus 
opened a way to India by sailing south and east. 
In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral, a Portuguese, at- 
tempted to make the same voyage. In his journey 
south, under instructions from Da Gama, and in 
order to avoid the equatorial doldrums off the Afri- 
can coast, he kept well away from that coast line, 
and on Good Friday, April 22, 1500, sighted land 

181 


182 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





to the west, the shores of Brazil, near the present 
state of Bahia. Cabral took possession of the land 
in the name of the Portuguese king, naming it “ la 
tierra de Vera Cruz,’ “The Land of the True 
Cross.” He sent a ship back to Portugal to make 
a report of the discovery, and went on to India. 
Later Amerigo Vespucci explored the Brazilian 
coast, the present name of the new continent north 
and south being derived from his association in this 
exploration, Brazil taking its name from the trees 
that produced a deep-red dye resembling that 
known in Europe as “ brasil.” 

On our voyage we sailed east as well as south, 
and turned our watches back two hours before 
reaching Rio. The difference in time between the 
United States and Europe is only three hours, so 
that Brazil is two thirds of the way, reckoning in 
time at least, across the Atlantic. A plumb line 
drawn due south from New York would not only 
fall to the west of Brazil but would not touch most 
of the continent of South America at all. In this 
sense, North and South America might be called 
West and East America. The southern continent 
is nearer to Africa and to southern Europe than it 
is to the United States, and this fact has had im- 
portant implications, both in the early history of 
the Americas and in their present development. - 

From the time we sighted land near Cape San 
Roque, on March 10, until we passed the southern 
boundaries of Brazil on March 24, we were con- 
tinually impressed by the size and expanse of ter- 
ritory of this great country. Its coast line extends 


FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BRAZIL 183 





along the Atlantic for nearly 4,000 miles; its total 
area exceeds by 200,000 square miles that of con- 
tinental United States, excluding Alaska, and is 
equal to the continental territory of the United 
States plus that of the British Isles, Holland, Bel- 
gium, Switzerland, and Portugal. Brazil is the 
fourth largest country in the world, being exceeded 
only by Russia, China, and by the United States 
when Alaska and the American insular possessions 
are included. Brazil includes within its boundaries 
nearly half the territory of South America. The 
single state of Texas in our own land is larger than 
many European countries, yet Brazil has one state, 
Amazonas, with 731,000 square miles, three times 
the area of Texas, and two states, Matto Grosso 
and Para, approximately double its size. A single 
island in the mouth of the Amazon is as large as 
the state of Massachusetts. The Amazon River 
is the largest river in the world; if its headwaters 
rose in the Olympic range of mountains in Wash- 
ington, on the Pacific Coast, this great river would 
extend entirely across our own continent and out 
into the Atlantic for nearly a thousand miles. The 
river is navigable for almost its entire length of 
3,850 miles, ocean-going vessels sailing to Manaos, 
925 miles from the sea; in the Amazon Valley are 
25,000 miles of navigable waters. 

Brazil is the largest country in area on the south- 
ern continent; it is also the largest in population. 
But in its territory there are only 30,000,000 
people, an average of nine inhabitants to the square 
mile, so that it is also one of the least densely 


184 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





populated and least developed countries in the 
world. There are only 20,000 miles of railroad. 
On the round trip to Cuyaba, the capital of Matto 
Grosso, 2,000 miles from Rio, Dr. McGregor spent 
twenty-five days in hard and constant travel by 
train and river steamer, so that the great distances 
and the pioneer status of inland Brazil were 
brought forcibly home to us. 

The rugged beauty of this great land is im- 
pressive. We felt it first when we saw the elevated 
outline of its mountainous shore, the sky line 
broken by wooded hills and plateaus, We sighted 
Cape Frio on March 12; the Cape lay extended 
like a huge ichthyosaurus, with humped back and 
extended tail and neck, its head a rounded hill lit 
by a lighthouse that winked and blinked at us like 
an observant, reptilian eye. Nearer Rio, great, 
rounded granite boulders protruded above the 
waves, like the heads of some enormous creatures 
of the deep, described in one of Kipling’s “ Just 
So Stories ” as the submarine beasts which came to 
the surface and devoured cities and supplies, yet 
were the smallest of thirty thousand brothers who 
lived at the bottom of the sea. 

The next morning we entered the harbor of 
Rio, in the traditional manner at daybreak. Rio 
de Janeiro takes its name from the fact that its 
Portuguese discoverers, who entered the bay Jan- 
uary 1, 1531, thought they were at the mouth of 
a great river, and named it accordingly for the day 
of its discovery. Rio has been much written about: 
it is one of the few cities that actually surpasses 


FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BRAZIL 185 





its many laudatory descriptions. I shall not at- 
tempt another, except to say that, with its great 
bay one hundred miles in circumference, dotted by 
islands, bright with tossing palms and tropical foli- 
age, and punctuated by picturesque inlets and 
coves, with Pao de Assucar, a granite “ sugar 
loaf,” a quarter of a mile high, standing sentinel- 
~ like at the harbor entrance, with the bright-colored 
houses of the metropolis lying like a necklace about 
the titanic throat of Corcovado, a precipitous cliff 
that towers 2,200 feet above the city and sea, 
with a triple range of hills and crags encircling 
the entire bay, the Organ Mountains in the ulti- 
mate distance rising apparently out of the clouds, 
Rio combines in unique fashion the glories of the 
three most beautiful harbor cities of the world — 
the Golden Gate and inner bay of San Francisco, 
Naples in the Mediterranean, and the Bay of Car- 
tagena on the Caribbean. 

The late Lord Bryce has well reproduced the 
spirit and atmosphere of the city and bay: “ Sup- 
pose the bottom of the Yosemite Valley, or that 
of the Valley of Auronzo in the Venetian Alps, 
filled with water, and the effect would be some- 
thing like the bay of Rio. Yet the superb vege- 
tation would be wanting, and the views to far- 
away mountains, and the sense of the presence of 
the blue ocean outside the capes that guard the 
entrance. ... Other cities there are where moun- 
tains rising around form a noble background and 
refresh the hearts of such town dwellers as have 
learnt to love them. ... But in Rio the moun- 


186 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





tains seem to be almost a part of the city, for it 
clings and laps around their spurs just as the sea 
below laps around the capes that project into the 
bay. Nor does one see elsewhere such weird forms 
rising directly from the yards and gardens of the 
houses. ... Such strange mountain forms give 
to the landscape of the city a bizarre air. ‘They 
are things to dream of, not to tell. They remind 
one of those bits of fantastic rock scenery which 
Leonardo da Vinci loved to put in as backgrounds. 

Yet the grotesqueness of the shapes is lost 
in the splendor of the whole — a flood of sunshine, 
a strand of dazzling white, a sea of turquoise blue, 
a feathery forest ready to fall from its cliff upon 
the city in a cascade of living green.” * 

Brazil is beautiful, but it is a rugged beauty that 
holds a hint of menace in it that the unexplored 
and uncontrolled powers of nature always possess. 
The coast of Brazil is beautiful, but back of it we 
felt the threat of the vast hinterland of forest and 
jungle that contains the greatest unexplored wil- 
derness in the world to-day. The city of Rio itself 
is beautiful, but its chief beauty comes from the 
magnificence of its natural surroundings. The city 
is poised upon a narrow and precarious ledge at 
the foot of towering cliffs; the mountains above 
dwarf it and reduce it to unimpressive proportions. 
Over this vast land hovers a spirit of which 
Stewart Edward White wrote in The Silent 
Places, and we were glad when from boat or train 
we saw houses or glimpses of the handiwork of 
man. 

1 South America, Lord Bryce, pp. 378-381. 


"(esr ‘d) . pjaom ay} Jo 
SoD Aoqivy [NJNvsq jsoutr Va1y} ey} Jo sat1o[# oy uorysey enbrum ut seurquios 


ONT 5, 


OUIHANVE Ad OIN AO ALIO GNV WORUVH COShS 























FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BRAZIL 187 





We were struck by the resemblance of Rio and 
Sao Paulo and Santos to the more prosperous 
cities of Southern Europe, of Italy, of Southern 
France, and of Spain. This portion of South 
America is more Kuropean than American. The 
houses are French and L[talian and Moorish in color 
and line; on the streets we heard French and Span- 
ish and Italian nearly as often as Portuguese. 
There were many automobiles in evidence, but also 
many two-wheeled carts, drawn by diminutive don- 
keys just as in Italy or Spain. In the better hotels 
the menus were in French and the accommodations 
were fully as comfortable as those supplied on the 
Southern European continent. Of the 30,000,000 
inhabitants of Brazil, about one half, or 16,000,000, 
are largely of white blood, Portuguese, Italian, and 
Spanish; 4,000,000 are Negroes; 8,000,000 are of 
mixed white and Negro blood; and about 1,500,000 
are Indian. North America has not made much of 
a contribution to the racial stock of Brazil. In Rio, 
whose population is estimated at 1,200,000, there 
are less than 1,000 from the United States. 

Brazil has drawn its blood and its religion largely 
from Southern Europe; the religious faith which 
sprang up in Northern Europe, and which finds 
its strongest adherents in North America, has had 
a foothold in Brazil for less than seventy years. 
Of its growth and power as we have seen them 
demonstrated during the past nine days, I will try 
to write in the next chapter. 


WV en Vi 


CHAPTER III 


SOME GLIMPSES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH IN RIO AND SAO PAULO 


Monrevipeo, Urvuavay, 
March 27, 1925 


S we entered the inner harbor at Rio, we 

passed a picturesque island which bore the 
name of Villegaignon. ‘There the French Hugue- 
nots, under the leadership of Nicholas Villegai- 
gnon, had established a settlement in 1555. With 
this enterprise are associated two of the greatest 
names in Protestant history, those of Calvin and 
Coligny. These two leaders encouraged a group 
of Huguenots to sail for “ Antarctic France,” and 
the fortress they built upon the island in Rio har- 
bor was named Fort Coligny. If that movement 
of the Huguenots had continued and the Protes- 
tants of France had become firmly established on 
Brazilian shores, how history would have been 
altered and what a transformation there would 
have been in the record of the Protestant Church 
in the Americas! But Villegaignon proved to be 
a traitor, the Portuguese drove the French from 
the island in 1567, and the colony was divided and 
disappeared. Later, Dutch Calvinists, under the 
leadership of Maurice of Nassau, attempted to 
settle in northern Brazil, but after an occupation 
extending from 1624 to 1654 they, too, were driven 

188 


THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RIO 189 


away. With the exception of a short visit of 
Henry Martin, who stopped on his way to India 
along the Brazilian coast in 1806, and of a tem- 
porary work done by Methodists from 1835 to 
1842, the Protestant Church was not represented 
again in Brazil until 1855, when Dr. Robert R. 
Kalley, a Scotch Presbyterian, arrived in Rio and 
established there and in Pernambuco church 
groups under the Congregational form of govern- 
ment, which have continued until this day. Then in 
1859 came the pioneer of Presbyterian Missions, 
Rev. A. G. Simonton, followed the next year by 
Rev. G. W. Chamberlain and Rev. A. L. Black- 
ford, the latter a brother-in-law of Dr. Simonton. 
In 1861 a preaching hall was opened in Rio; in 
1862 the first Presbyterian church was established; 
in 1865 the Presbytery of Rio was organized. The 
work spread from Rio to Sao Paulo and Campinas 
and Pernambuco. The Methodists reopened work 
in 1876; the Baptists came in 1881; and the Epis- 
copalians, after an earlier temporary effort, re- 
newed their work in 1889. Such in outline is the 
history of the Protestant movement in Brazil.’ 
We had not spent twenty-four hours in Rio be- 
fore we had seen indisputable and inspiring evi- 
dence of the vitality and strength of this Protestant 
church, first planted less than two generations ago. 
An efficient-looking Brazilian boarded our steamer 
at the pier and gave to our party schedules of the 
meetings planned for the regional conference in 
Rio. He was Sr. Erasmo Braga, the secretary of 
1 A fuller account is given in Chapter XV. 


190 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





the local Committee on Cooperation and Moder- 
ator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church of Brazil, in culture and ability the peer of 
any man, North or South American, whom we 
met in Brazil. The schedule planned for the 
three days’ conference was an energetic one, pro- 
viding for meetings in the local churches at eight 
in the morning, two in the afternoon, and eight in 
the evening. On Sunday, for good measure, the 
first meeting was scheduled for seven-thirty. There 
was certainly nothing of South American languor 
in that schedule, and to travelers just arriving in 
the tropics it was a challenging test of North 
American energy. 

The reports of the work of the various churches 
given us at the first meeting we attended were im- 
pressive. Naturally we were keenly interested in 
the Presbyterian work. The Presbyterian Church 
of Brazil reported at the meeting of its General 
Assembly, in February, 1924, that there were 21,— 
129 members in full profession, with 20,901 bap- 
tized (including children) who were not communi- 
cants; 3 synods, 10 presbyteries, 155 churches, 88 
ordained ministers, all Brazilians, 867 preaching 
places, 306 Sunday schools, with 16,607 pupils, 
179 church buildings valued at more than 3,000,000 
milreis, or about $400,000, American gold, the 
contributions of the Church for 1923 totaling ap- 
proximately $140,000 in United States currency. 
Most of the churches are self-supporting. The 
total budget of both Brazil Missions representing 
gifts from the United States churches for their 


ERASMO BRAGA 


Secretary of the Brazilian Committee on Codperation; Moderator 
of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil; Chairman of the 
Congress on Christian Work in South America. 


“In culture and ability the peer of any man, North South 
American, whom we met in Brazil” (p. 190). 





” 





THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RIO 191 





work, and not including the salaries of our own 
missionaries, is about $11,000. This covers educa- 
tional, literary, medical, and evangelistic services. 

There is an Independent Presbyterian Church 
also in Brazil, which has no financial relations with 
the Missions; it reported this year 10,000 members, 
23 ordained ministers, 100 churches, whose con- 
tributions amount approximately to $100,000 in 
American gold. At present there are 57 mission- 
aries of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil, their 
salaries and allowances representing an annual ap- 
propriation of about $60,000. When the appro- 
priation for the native work is added, the total 
annual investment from the home churches is 
$71,000. On the Brazilian side there are 111 or- 
dained ministers and 31,000 actual communicants, 
and the total contributions of the Brazilian 
Presbyterian churches amount approximately to 
$240,000, American gold. The pioneer mission- 
aries of our Church, Simonton, Blackford, and 
Chamberlain, must rejoice in this truly great 
growth of the movement which they began only 
sixty-five years ago. 

The other Protestant churches have reported 
inspiring growth also. ‘The Methodists have 
15,000 members; the Baptists, 20,000; the Epis- 
copalians, 2,300 members; the Y.M.C.A. and 
Y.W.C.A., in recent years have made distinct con- 
tributions. Rev. H. S. Harris, an affiliated mem- 
ber of our South Brazil Mission, reported that 
there were 82,000 children and young people in the 
Protestant Sunday schools of Brazil. The total 


192 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





number of the Protestant communicants is esti- 
mated to be approximately 80,000. 

During the three days’ conference and after its 
sessions, we visited the various evangelistic centers 
in Rio. A college maintained by the Baptists is 
doing fine work and an evangelical hospital, with 
equipment for one-hundred beds, is making a con- 
tribution which only those who have lived in Latin 
American lands can appreciate. In a report writ- 
ten in 1909, Dr. Speer had said, “ It will be a long 
time before the native Protestant community in 
any South American city can supply and maintain 
its own hospital,” yet in Brazil to-day a hospital 
is in existence, supported entirely by fees and by 
gifts from the evangelical churches of Brazil, no 
funds being contributed from the United States. 
One Presbyterian church, of which Sr. Alvaro Reis 
is pastor, has a membership of 1,900 and is the larg- 
est Protestant church in South America. 

On March 18, we left Rio, with crowded mem- 
ories of the full and happy days there spent with 
our friends of the Brazilian churches, and after a 
twelve-hour ride through beautiful mountainous 
country we reached Sao Paulo, the second city of 
Brazil and its most wealthy metropolis. The next 
day we were invited to inspect the work of the 
churches there and, in a long line of automobiles, 
drove past the more important centers. A list had 
been compiled of 37 institutions, Sao Paulo havy- 
ing 21 organized evangelical churches, with a total 
of 54 points in the city where the “message of 
the gospel is delivered with regularity.” The 


THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RIO 1938 


Methodists have 10 Sunday schools, with 968 pu- 
pils; the Presbyterians, 14 Sunday schools, with 
1,109 pupils; the Independent Presbyterians, 13 
Sunday schools, with 820 pupils, and so on down 
the list. The local committee had made careful 
arrangements and each church or Sunday school 
was placarded with a number which corresponded 
to its description in the leaflets given to our party. 
There were two especially interesting Sunday 
schools: one, ““ Number 6,” of the new Presbyterian 
church, the building of which was consecrated in 
September, 1922, having an enrollment of 470 pu- 
pils; the smallest school, “Number 11,” being 
“ conducted by two little sisters, one 9 and the other 
7 years old, with 7 pupils.” 

After we had filed past and inspected churches 
and Sunday schools for most of the morning, our 
itinerary was varied by a visit to the Government 
snake farm known as Instituto Butantan. 'There 
snakes of all kinds, both poisonous and nonpoison- 
ous, are kept and antidotes are prepared there for 
snake bite, the antitoxin being made from the poi- 
son of the venomous snakes themselves. We 
watched with interest one of the attendants lift the 
poisonous jararaca, the wrutw and the jararacussu, 
and display their poisonous fangs and also allow 
the boa constrictors to coil about his arms as he 
lifted them from the ground. Ex-President 
Roosevelt has written a vivid description of this 
snake farm, which is contained in one of the early 
chapters of his book, Through the Brazilian Wil- 
derness. 


194 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





On the twentieth, our party of delegates visited 
Mackenzie College, the outstanding Protestant in- 
stitution of higher learning in Brazil, and one of 
the best-known colleges in the country. The in- 
stitution has a total registration of over 1,400 stu- 
dents. It offers a complete course of instruction 
from the lower primary grades to the college and 
normal departments, and full courses in civil, archi- 
tectural, mechanical, electrical, and chemical en- 
gineering. There are seventy-six teachers, of 
whom eight are North Americans. ‘The college 
owns eleven and a half acres of property favorably 
situated in a high part of the city, and has devel- 
oped its site to the fullest possible extent, with a 
campus, athletic field, and buildings of North 
American standards and appearance. Its history 
goes back to 1871, when a school was opened with 
three pupils, one white boy, one black boy, and one 
white girl, thus beginning coeducation and the 
democratic mixture of social classes which has con- 
tinued ever since. and was secured outside the 
city for the amount of $400; later this property 
was sold for $120,000 and the present site was 
purchased. ‘The school early forged to the front 
rank in education in Brazil, and before 1890 was 
sending more pupils to the examinations for the 
Government professional schools than any other 
school in Sao Paulo. In 1890 the college was in- 
corporated under the laws of the state of New 
York. In 1891 courses in higher education were 
organized. In 1923 the engineering schools were 
recognized by the Brazilian Government and given 




















THE GOVERNMENT SNAKE FARM, INSTITUTO BUTANTAN, AT 
SAO PAULO 


“We watched with interest one of the attendants lift the poisonous 
jararaca... and display its poisonous fangs” (p. 193). 


. 


— — 
ene 


44 


7 
‘ P 
9 Pes ss 
— 
ak oe 
' "4 = 
aed dee ne 
¥  -» 
r) > aoe 
re eae | 
a. q : 
« vs 
=’ 
w* 7 
a 
he 
. 
\ 
¢ 
fig 
6 
oe 
* 
° 
: 
i 
1 } 
: 
‘ 
5 
] 
4 
be. 
Z 
1 
® 
‘ 
« 





THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RIO 195 


an established place in the educational systems of 
Brazil. The Presbyterian Board made an annual 
grant of $5,000 to the college for a number of 
years, but in 1923 this grant ceased and since that 
year, as far as any contributions received from the 
churches in North America are concerned, it has 
been self-supporting. 

About fifteen per cent of the students enrolled 
are Protestants, the others being Roman Catholics. 
Its influence cannot be measured, however, by the 
number of converts won to the Protestant faith. 
Its graduates are in demand wherever there are 
positions requiring honesty and efficiency. The 
college has had a wonderful record of self-support 
and has received comparatively few gifts from the 
United States for building and equipment. Gifts 
totaling $130,000 have been made by individuals 
and by the churches in the United States; the pres- 
ent land and buildings are valued at $800,000. 
There is clear need for addition to the property. 
Especially is a building needed which can be used 
for chapel and assembly, as there is no room in 
the present buildings large enough to seat the full 
enrollment of the college. There is need also of 
a gymnasium and better athletic equipment, and 
books are needed for the new library building 
which is just being completed. Certainly any 
member of the Church at home who gives toward 
such equipment can feel that his funds will be 
spent with the utmost economy and for the things 
for which our Church has always stood.’ 

1 For a more detailed description of the College, see Chapter IX. 


196 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Another series of conferences and meetings sim- 
ilar to that at Rio was held in Sao Paulo, and on 
March 21 our party left for Santos, the principal 
port of Brazil, two hours to the south and east of 
Sao Paulo. We descended by the unique railroad 
which drops down about 2,500 feet in two hours, 
stayed that night at a hotel on the beautiful island 
of Guaruja, and next day boarded the steamship 
Lutetia, of the Compagnie Sud Atlantique Fran- 
caise, which took us to Montevideo on the twenty- 
fourth. 

On the Southern Cross, coming down from New 
York, was a veteran missionary of Brazil, Rev. 
H. C. Tucker. Dr. Tucker first landed in Brazil 
in 1886, thirty-nine years ago. One day on the 
boat he told us of his first impressions of Brazil 
and of the changes that have taken place since he 
first landed on its shores. In his own term of 
service he had seen Brazil change from a mon- 
archy to a republic; slavery abolished; the separa- 
tion of Church and state; the establishment of 
civil marriage and civil cemeteries; and the growth 
into power and prestige of the Protestant 
Church. Dr. Tucker spoke of some of his early 
experiences, and others told us of vicissitudes 
through which he had passed, of which he himself 
did not speak. One day he was threatened by a 
mob and he halted them by going out bravely to 
face them and by speaking to them of the gospel, 
quoting John 3:16. As he continued speaking 
the crowd ceased to threaten and finally gave way. 
Afterward he learned that on that same day his 


THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN RIO 197 





mother in Tennessee had been moved by a compel- 
ling impulse to pray for him because she felt that 
he was in danger, and he testified that through the 
words of the gospel and through his mother’s 
prayers his life had been saved. Again Dr. 
Tucker told of the loyalty of Brazilian converts, 
one of whom had accompanied a missionary named 
Butler, whose life was threatened. A man came 
forward with a machete to strike Dr. Butler, and 
the Brazilian with him, crying out, “ The cause 
can better afford to lose me than you,” stepped 
between Dr. Butler and his assailant, took the 
thrust in his own body, and so gave his life for his 
friend. 

Dr. Tucker told of the joy of the service of his 
thirty-nine years in Brazil and, as all true mission- 
aries testify, he declared that in the service he had 
received far more than he had ever given and that 
the greatest boon he could ask would be for thirty- 
nine more years in which to serve his adopted land 
and in which to make Christ and His work known 
there. The life span of this one man had covered 
some of the most dramatic and important trans- 
formations in the life of the great nation which 
we have just visited and it is because of the temper 
and spirit of such men as Dr. Tucker and of the 
other missionaries in Brazil, the fidelity and 
strength of the leaders of the national Brazilian 
churches, and the manifest blessing of God that 
has been upon this work, that we look forward to 
the future with courage and confidence. 


NVG IVY 


CHAPTER IV 
ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 


IrarArRE, BRAZIL, 
February 4, 1925, 1:30 a.m. 

ID you ever spend a night in tropical Brazil? 
No? Well, you would not like it. Why? 

Let me answer your question by citing my experi- 
ences to-day. We left Dr. Waddell in the Sao 
Paulo railroad station at six-fifty-five this morn- 
ing. I don’t know how many miles we traveled. 
It seemed like a thousand, but probably it was 
nearer two hundred. When traveling in a strange 
land and language, one’s only accurate measure- 
ment of distance is a watch, and that tells you the 
distance in time and not miles. We arrived here, 
Itarare — I’ve spelled the name correctly, but I 
swear it’s bad grammar. It should read, It’s-a- 
rare-burg — at eight-ten in the evening. Like it? 
I know you wouldn’t — either place or journey. 
We had the tropical sun, the tropical dust or pow- 
dered clay which sticks and sticks and sticks. We 
left Sao Paulo without “ breakfast” (luncheon) 
and arrived without catching up with one all day. 
Our board bill to-day will be a very light charge 
against our Board treasury, but our laundry bill 
will make up for it. We had a game, however, that 
was new and kept us busy from the beginning to 

198 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 199 





the end of the day. It was with our engine. It 
started the game as soon as we left Sao Paulo. It 
was “snap the whip.” We were in the next to the 
last car and that engine did its best to whip us off. 
But we won out. We held on. That was our part 
of the game and we played it valiantly; as you 
should expect, of course, that we would do. 

Well, we stopped at this improperly or ungram- 
matically named place, because there’s an insur- 
rection against the Government some place down 
here and the said Government has decreed that 
“ safety first” is the best policy and therefore no 
night traveling. That’s what we understand. Re- 
member, please, that we are traveling in a foreign 
language and ours is not to reason why, ours is to 
do what we are told. Perhaps the engine got tired 
playing a losing game. At any rate, Mr. Graham 
has come down from Castro and brought us to the 
hotel. I don’t know its name. Probably I couldn’t 
spell it if I did, and no doubt it would give you a 
wrong idea even if it were spelled correctly. 
It might be called the Astor or the Biltmore or the 
Ritz, in which case you would certainly get the 
wrong idea. It’s no more like the hotels of these 
names as we know them than one of the several 
million ant hills we’ve passed to-day is like the 
Andes as we saw them last week. 

After we had scrubbed and scrubbed our hands 
and faces we had dinner (?) in the barroom. Down 
here they know nothing of an Kighteenth Amend- 
ment, and it would have done your hearts good if 
you could have seen Mrs. Gillmore and Miss Reid 


200 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





step right up to the — table, while a half dozen or 
more of the barroom habitués watched us eat. Evi- 
dently they had feasted before we arrived, but the 
million or more flies had not. With them we had 
to fight for every bit we got, and this in spite of 
the fact that it was our first meal of the day. Yes, 
this deputation business is a fight for your very 
life in tropical Brazil. 

After dinner we went to some high officer to re- 
port that we had arrived in his town, show him our 
finger-printed document that we had qualified 
down below in Sao Paulo, and tell him that it was 
our plan to leave the dust of his town, or as much 
of it as we were able to leave, behind on the first 
train in the morning. After this, escorted by our 
trusty missionary, we walked around the cathedral 
which looked much like a New England Con- 
gregational church, and returned to our hotel. 
It was ten o’clock —time for tired travelers to 
retire. Our habitués were still at their cups and 
cigarettes. Perhaps they had slept, too, before we 
got here. Remember, again, that we are traveling 
in a foreign language, so we concluded that it was 
none of our business. Our train is to leave at four- 
twenty in the morning and perhaps theirs is leav- 
ing later. So we retired, and so far as I know the 
ladies and Mr. Graham are still retired. I was for 
two hours, but not to sleep. It started to rain at 
eleven o'clock and the mosquitoes started earlier. 
They began at once and with me they won out. I 
had to leave the field to them, Graham, in this case, 
being the field. I hope he is having a good rest, 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 201 





Anyone deserves it who can get it. I got up, 
dressed, and came back into this bar-dining room, 
where some of the habitués are still at it. I wonder 
what they are talking about. I wonder what they 
think of me sitting here in this corner slinging ink. 
I don’t know. I just know that I’m enjoying my- 
self much more here writing you, our good friends, 
than entertaining the mosquitoes in my bedroom. 

It’s now two-fifty-five in the morning and in five 
minutes more I’m going to call Graham and the 
ladies to action. I’m anxious to hear their reports 
of the night, and I’d like to know how much you 
envy your deputation this trip to tropical Brazil. 
Don’t answer. It will keep, if we do, for three or 
four months more. 

All the time I’ve been in South America, I’ve 
been saying to myself, and it has inspired me with 
great admiration for them, all the time I’ve been 
saying: “These missionaries are wonders. ‘They 
are living here and would live nowhere else, be- 
cause there’s a work to do. It’s God’s work and 
it’s ours and we'll do it. Every day I’m grateful 
for the privilege that is mine — to be one of this 
deputation and to learn first-hand of how the fight 
is going on in these front-line trenches. It’s a tre- 
mendous job, but we are going to win out.” 


Somewhere, En Route CuyaBa, Brazi, 

February 12, 1925 
What to write, O Christian friends, may all the 
gods destroy me if I know! My last letter was 
written from the never-to-be-forgotten place, 


202 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


Itarare, en route to Castro. This? Goodness only 
knows the name of this place. We spent last night 
at Aracatuba. Bet there is not one of you who can 
pronounce it correctly. It looks imnocent, but 
when pronounced by a native it sounds like a 
sneeze. 

Well, we had the welcome news upon our arrival 
here last night, that the train which we had ex- 
pected would leave at three-forty-five in the morn- 
ing would not leave until six. However, since we 
left at six one thing after another has happened. 
We pulled in lame at a little place an hour away 
—my watch is my best measure of distance — only 
to find that the engine tender had shed half a 
flange from one of its wheels. This meant get a 
new engine, et cetera, which in turn meant a delay 
of three hours. Then everything went well and 
everyone was happy for a long half hour, when we 
came to a halt out in the open country where the 
midges and the mosquitoes dwell. Perhaps there 
isn’t any place here where they do not dwell. 
That’s another thing I don’t know. After an 
hour we got under way with a third engine in con- 
trol— and now! now! now! “If you have tears, 
prepare to shed them now ” — our brave engine is 
completely off the track. It’s here that I wish I 
were an artist. My! what a picture I could give 
you. Alas, I’m not and so cannot. I’m sitting 
under a tree, with a brood — litter, I guess is the 
word — with a litter of pigs grunting and grub- 
bing (there must be a native hut somewhere near), 
a half dozen nannies nannying, while bugs and 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 203 





mosquitoes are doing their best to let me know that 
I’m at least a little distance off Fifth Avenue. 
Just what is happening to our engine is another 
thing I don’t know. The crew is trying to put it 
back on the straight and narrow track; but just 
now it’s where it was two hours ago. It’s now 
two-forty-five and were we to start this minute, 
which we are not doing, we should have two and a 
half hours to run before we get to the place where 
we were to get breakfast at one o'clock. I have 
been assured that it’s the best place on the line for 
this particular meal. ‘To live up to its reputation, 
it looks now as though it will have to throw away 
to-day’s breakfast and get a new one for us. Its 
name? I haven’t seen it, but it sounds like this: 
Kat-a-poor-ly. But the point is that it’s now three- 
five and that we are hours away from our break- 
fast. Another point is, don’t come out here for 
your winter-summer vacation. It’s not a place for 
humans who care anything about life. Honestly, 
I don’t believe you'd like it. Yet it’s here in this 
unspeakably crude land that some six good men 
and women have chosen to live. Why, there isn’t 
one of you who will read this letter who would live 
here a day longer than you had to for all the land 
my eyes can scan. Not one of you—and I’m of 
your number! I’m going on simply that I may tell 
you and others some day just what these good sol- 
diers of Jesus Christ are up against and how they 
are carrying on the work against nature and human 
nature. 

This is our third day on the rail. We have two 


204 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





more — only two more —if we have good luck 
and lots of it, before we come to the rivers. On 
these, if we have good luck and lots of it, we shall 
have nine or ten more days. ‘Then Cuyaba and a 
mule trip seven leagues to Burity where our school 
is located. 

I could tell you more, but I can’t. That sounds 
Dutch, doesn’t it? I can’t because the mosquitoes 
have found me and a pig is rooting at my feet. 
A native has joined me under the tree and thinks 
me a numbskull because I do not understand him. 
Perhaps I am. I’m no fair judge, being slightly 
prejudiced. But I’ve got to stop or the mosquitoes 
will get me before my day. 


Word comes that a new engine has been ordered 
to come from the place we left at six this morning 
and that we'll get breakfast at midnight. 


P.S.*. I’m glad the ladies are not here. And 
Cuyaba 1,000,000 miles away! 

P.S.2. This may be my last word. It’s five- 
fifteen in the afternoon — and breakfast! Will it 
ever ¢ 

P.S.° Six-three in the evening. We hear an 
engine in the distance. Perhaps we're saved after 
all. 

P.S. Three of the four engines we’ve had to- 
day have been Baldwins. Don’t ask the vintage. 
I saw 1908 on one and 1910 on another. 

P.S.2. We had breakfast at eight-fifty in the 
evening. Arrived here — I’ll tell you the name of 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 205 








the place in my next — at one in the morning, nine 
hours late, and now, four-fifteen in the morning, 
same day, we are up and at it for the five-twenty- 
five train. Wonder where we'll get breakfast to- 
day! But we’re on our way to what our mission- 
aries, Mr. and Mrs. Moser, and two little kiddies, 
my fellow travelers, call home. 


En Route to CuyaBa, Brazit, 
February ~13, 1925 

I dare call you friends because you no doubt 
think of me as you last saw me at “156.” Did 
you see me now I should not blame you a bit if 
you replied, “ You’re no friend of ours.” The fact 
is, I’ve changed very much. I’ve joined the great 
army of the unclean. I have not shaved in five 
days, my finger nails are in mourning, my face is 
covered with what looks like Pennsylvania shale, 
and my linen is of the same color. So is every- 
body else’s. We all look alike, Turk, Negro, In- 
dian, Brazilian, and American. 

You don’t like this? Neither do I; but it’s here 
and that is why I’m telling you. You can’t 
imagine it all and I can’t tell you it all. I’m simply 
doing my best — so don’t shoot. 

“ Mr. Missionary ” doesn’t like this: neither does 
“Mrs. Missionary”; but you know they are on 
their way home and to their God-appointed work in 
Cuyaba and I’m on my way to see both. 

Like it? Not a bit of it. I had enough of it 
before I was twenty-four hours out of Sao Paulo. 
I might have turned back saying, “ Excuse me, 


206 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





I’m sick.” And I should have told the truth. I 
was sick. Dr. Waddell, when he saw me off on the 
train said, “If you don’t feel better in twenty- 
four hours take the advice of an old war horse and 
come back.” I did not feel better and I did not 
turn back. Two negatives making a positive, that 
means I kept on going with the result that we are 
four days nearer our goal, Cuyaba. 

Only three hours separated yesterday from to- 
day. We arrived at Tres Lagoas — I don’t know 
whether that “Tres”? means “three” somethings 
or a “very ’”’ something — but we arrived there at 
one in the morning and Mr. and Mrs. Missionary 
and Miss Three-Year-Old Missionary and I had 
shower baths. ‘Think of it— shower baths! For 
three hours, as far as shower baths could make us, 
we belonged to the clean class, and at four in the 
morning we were up and getting ready for the 
five-twenty-five-in-the-morning train. It’s on this 
I’m writing this letter to you. It was a cruel knock 
the man gave at our doors. My bed, three feet nar- 
row and six feet short, was very comfortable and 
I was so dead with tiredness that all the mosquitoes 
and all the mosquitoes’ men could hardly get this 
Humpty Dumpty up again. 

Yes, it’s a great world, even in far-off Brazil, if 
you treat it right. But we have not been treating 
it right. ‘Three hours of sleep are not enough after 
such a day as yesterday. One needs about three 
weeks. But we are on our way to our Missionary’s 
home and church and school and farm. ‘These are 
the big things that keep us going. 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 207 


Lots of things are happening on or outside this 
train that one does not like. To begin with, the 
engine does not burn coal. It burns wood and the 
pyrotechnic display the smokestack’s output gives 
would put to shame anything Mr. Payne ever 
turned out in the line of Fourth of July star dust. 
It’s very wonderful to see; but the trouble is that 
much of the said “ pyro” comes into the train and 
one has nothing more important to do than to put 
out fires. My suit was new last Tuesday and now 
I have a score of holes to tell you that I’ve been 
through the fire. Why, right opposite me a trav- 
eler from Paraguay broke out in three places at 
one time. ‘That’s the record so far. If some one 
does not make it four to-morrow he'll probably get 
the medal because, with good luck and lots of it, 
we shall transfer ourselves from rail to river travel. 
No, I don’t care very much for this sort of thing. 
I put out six fires to-day and was put out once. 
If the Government insists on burning wood, the 
very least it can do, or should do, is to have a fire 
department on board. 

Another thing I do not like. Am I tiring you? 
Stop right here if I am. We ran into a Brazilian 
rain shower. It was the real article. Well, you 
know the glass in the front of our car was clean 
gone — the only clean thing about the car. What 
rain did not stay out came in through that door 
while the roof leaked like an old vat. Those who 
had them put up their umbrellas while those who 
did not have any huddled together and laughed the 
thing out. I had one, but of the jackknife variety, 


208 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





carefully packed in my bag, which I dared not open 
lest the contents should get drenched. The rain 
laid the dust outside and inside the car and gave us 
something we could all, regardless of language, 
enjoy. 

From the car window I have seen a number of 
things. I saw some emus. Always thought them 
animals. ‘They are birds, big ones, if these were 
emus. I also saw a secretary bird, though why this 
aristocratic name I don’t know except that the bird 
stands high and the secretaries I know at home 
come high. 

The latter part of this letter is written in my 
attic room of another Itarare Hotel in Campo 
Grande by candlelight. Yes, it’s a great life if 
you survive it. But we’re another day nearer Cuy- 
aba and to-morrow we transfer to the river boat. 

I’m cutting out the Rio conference and may 
have to forego Montevideo; but I’m going to see 
Cuyaba and you are going to hear about it. The 
candle is pretty low and so am I for sleep. Good 
night. 

P.S." [ve just learned that the train leaves at 
five in the morning. It’s now eleven-ten. Up at 
four means — figure it out for yourselves. Tm 
too tired. 

P.S.’ I still brush my teeth. Perhaps there’s 
some hope for me. 


On THE Rio Paraauay, Brazit, 
February 15, 1925 


I did not write yesterday for two reasons: there 
was no chance, and had there been I was too much 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 209 


in to accept it. It was our fifth and last day on the 
train and perhaps the hardest of them all. It be- 
gan for us early, at four in the morning, and ended 
by our stepping aboard this river boat at six-thirty 
in the evening. ‘The hardest part of the day’s jour- 
ney was the heat. It was tropical and then some. 
At noon I envied some men on shore who had built 
and were tending huge bonfires, I believe to keep 
cool. We’re strange creatures, aren’t we? You 
in New York, stepping out lively because of the 
cold, when you think of us, probably say, “ I wish 
I were with McGregor and Company, where the 
sun shines.” I, in turn, am saying, ““ How I wish 
I could taste a bit of zero!” Yes, we’re strange. 
We always wish we were on the other side of the 
stream. We are sure there are bigger fish and 
more of them over there. 'There’s just one thing 
though, that holds me, keeps me both patient and 
happy: it’s the fact that ’'m on my way with Mr. 
and Mrs. Missionary to their home and work in 
Cuyaba. 

Last night, when everybody was so tired and 
when the missionary’s children just would not go 
to sleep, I heard that tired mother and father sing 
to them (my room was next door): 


“Long may our land be bright 
With freedom’s holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might, 
Great God, our King.” 


I wondered, dear friends, if they had in mind far- 
away America as they sang, because they have both 


210 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


left father and mother and brethren and sisters for 
the Master’s sake. Or, tell me, were they think- 
ing of the land and people of their adoption? I 
don’t know, but of this I’m certain: they know that 
it’s just these things that the land in which they 
live and toward which we are moving needs. She 
does need to be bright “ with freedom’s holy light,” 
and these brave young people are making the su- 
preme sacrifice to bring it about. 


R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER V 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 
(Continued ) 


On tHE Rio Paraguay, Brazit, 
February 16, 1925 


FE, pulled in at Corumba at exactly noon 
yesterday. We had been on the Paraguay 
River just sixteen hours, and while the boat was 
not much, it gave me a chance to bathe, shave, get 
my nails out of mourning, and put on a complete 
change of clothes. So, for a few moments at least, 
I felt as though I didn’t care if the whole Board 
of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in 
the U.S.A., with headquarters at 156 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City, saw me. In fact, I 
should have liked it. Come any time you want, 
and I’ll not let you go until you, too, catch some- 
thing of the spirit and enthusiasm of Mr. and Mrs. 
Missionary. 

Upon arriving at Corumba we made inquiries 
about an upriver boat, and to our joy we found 
that one was to go at four in the afternoon. This 
gave us just time enough to go ashore in the blis- 
tering heat of noon and call upon some of the 
South American Inland people and return. At 
four-twenty-five we got under way for Cuyaba, 
800 miles away. 

211 


212 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





By the way, it was at this place, Corumba, that 
Mr. Roosevelt completed his outfitting for his 
memorable South American expedition and then, 
leaving the beaten trail, went up this same river, 
the Paraguay, on his way to the River of Doubt, 
now called Rio Teodoro Roosevelt. 

But here we are under way, more comfortable 
than on the train because we are free from the 
clouds of dust and do not have to rush for a hotel 
at midnight and get up at four in the morning to 
get the train. I wish, however, that you might see 
the boat. It’s not an ocean liner, but a notion liner: 
it’s in a class quite by itself. It’s a wood burner 
of about forty feet over all and has lashed to its 
side a boat equally large which seems to be the 
cargo carrier. ‘There are just three cabins — the 
captain’s and two more which have been assigned 
to us. In mine are two bunks and one nail: no 
washstand, no basin, no mirror, no chair — there’s 
not a chair aboard. Each bed has one sheet so 
you can choose whether you'll have it over or 
under you. Since I’ve had one night’s experience, 
let me advise you to have it over you. The mos- 
quitoes, in this way, can be foiled somewhat. It 
really looks as though I’d have to join again the 
great army of the unclean. Under the circum- 
stances, tell me, what else is there to do? 

Just now we are coaling up with wood. We’ve 
pulled up alongshore and now by a relay of twelve 
men — our missionary is one of them — the wood is 
passed from shore to boat. ‘Three thousand pieces 
have been stacked, surely enough to put us quite a 




















A SCENE ON THE PARAGUAY RIVER 




















A PARAGUAY RIVER STEAMER 


“Mr. Roosevelt went up this same river, the Paraguay, on his way 
to the River of Doubt” (p. 2/2). 








= hb 





ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 213 





bit farther on our way. In the meantime we are 
waiting patiently to do a little stoking of our own. 
It’s nine o’clock and no breakfast, though we were 
told last night to be ready for it at six. Breakfast 
seems to be the one uncertainty down here. We’ve 
chased more breakfasts than anything else, and 
some way or other the day does not seem well be- 
gun until we have caught one. 

But we made progress during the night. Night 
and day we are on our way to Cuyaba. 


On THE Rio Sao Lorenzo, Braziu, 
February 17, 1925 


The value of an education down here is that it 
permits you to read ancient history, when you can 
get it. Ive just read in The Outlook, December 
20, 1924 — it’s the latest edition down here — that 
Owen D. Young has returned to the States, that 
he was given a dinner and told by Secretary 
Hughes and others how great a thing he had done 
for the world, and so forth. Down here, this is 
news. Up there, it’s probably so ancient that Mr. 
Young has fitted himself again and so well to the 
harness of his everyday life that he has quite for- 
gotten that he ever crossed the Atlantic. News 
down here is like the stone cast into the ocean — 
we get it on the last expiring ripple. This is how 
far we are from news — and Just to play things to 
the extension of the limit, something my mathe- 
matical: professor said did not exist — we have at 
least 500 miles more to go before we arrive at the 


214 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





place where Mr. and Mrs. Missionary have their 
home and work. 

While I was at Camp Lee during the war a 
Young Men’s Christian Association secretary told 
me of meeting a mountaineer who had never been 
on a train before. All he had seen of the world 
was from horseback. At this particular moment 
he was on a train rushing to the camp. His re- 
mark was, “If this old world is as big the other 
side of Ellensville as it is this side, it’s a buster.” 
In spite of the fact that I know what is on the 
other side of Ellensville, I want to say that I 
have never been so impressed with miles as I am 
on this trip. Think of it! Since we left Castro, 
ten days ago, not a train or a boat of any kind has 
passed us one way or another, and I assure you a 
good many miles have gone over the dam since 
then. 


Fresruary 18, 1925 


About four o’clock yesterday afternoon a flock, 
fleet, or family — it’s all the same to me — of mos- 
quitoes descended upon this boat and among other 
things put my pen out of business. The way they 
attacked and were attacked was something beyond 
words. I never saw anything like it in all my life. 
It was awful, but last night was worse. Because 
we had nothing else to do but fight mosquitoes we 
got behind our nettings at six-fifty in the evening 
and retired for the night and then proceeded “ to 
wish for the day.” Sleep! Sleep! You just 
couldn’t. At ten-thirty we stopped some place 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 215 


without my permission, took on some wood and a 
whole fleet of brand new mosquitoes. It was not 
fair. We had made some impression on the old 
fleet: but the new, fresh, vigorous, and hungry ones 
were too many and much for us. At about eleven 
I heard the mother, Mrs. Missionary, on the other 
side of the thin partition hit out as though she had 
discovered a lot of alligators trying to get away 
with her children. I spoke to her about it this 
morning and she said, “I was just desperate.” 
So were we all, but we had only ourselves to take 
care of, although I'll say this for myself, I have a 
little more to me than anyone else aboard. 

Now I’m not finding fault — not a bit of it. I 
did not have to come on this trip. I came because 
I wanted to. The missionary told me what Id 
run up against — and I knew he knew. But hon- 
estly, I thought he was overdoing things. I 
thought he was trying me out to see if our Foreign 
Board had red-blooded men and women on it. 
It was a kind of Garibaldi’s call to service and 
as I see it now, had I refused to come, it would 
have been a matter of only a short time before my 
conscience would have compelled me to ask you 
and my Church for a leave of absence to come 
back and finish the job. Yes, far from finding 
fault, ’'m glad I am on my way to Cuyaba, be- 
cause I shall know — and you will too, if you have 
time and patience to read these letters — just what 
our Mr. and Mrs. Missionary have to contend with 
in their homes and work at Cuyaba — 2,000 miles 
inland in great, big, needy, but splendid Brazil. 


216 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





I did hear Mrs. Missionary say yesterday, “ I’m 
not coming out again until I go home five years 
from now.” I don’t blame her. ‘The surprise to 
me was that she did not say: “ When I go out again 
it will be never to return. I can’t stand it.” But 
she did not. The fact is that nothing but the love 
of God in the hearts of these brave missionaries 
holds them to this task. It’s not the salary. 


On THE Rio Cuyasa, 
February 19, 1925 


I was on this boat not more than ten minutes 
before I was wishing for Dr. Dodd. Before I left 
New York he examined me with special attention 
to my heart, of which he said: “ There’s something 
there I don’t quite understand, but it’s not serious. 
I think your heart will see you through the trip.” 
When this notion liner got under way for the 800- 
mile river trip, I detected trouble that made me feel 
uncertain about getting to the other end. I diag- 
nosed this as leaky valves — something which I 
know can be most serious. That night when I 
retired and found that my head and feet tried to 
be in the same place at the same time — something 
like the sensation one has when being hauled up a 
steep grade by an engine that one is not sure can 
reach the top — I said, “ The heart of this boat has 
a bad palpitation.” That's why I wanted Dr. 
Dodd. I wanted his expert opinion. ‘The owner 
of this boat — anxious probably that we should 
be passengers in order to swell the receipts — 
assured us that we would get to Cuyaba in from 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 217 


four to five days. Here we are almost four 
days on the way and we have not reached the 
halfway mark. I know my diagnosis is correct 
and I didn’t have a stethoscope either. These 
fellows down here either don’t know how or 
they just won’t tell the truth. I’m reminded of 
the story of a Scotchman who had a very serious 
nervous breakdown. He was put in a sanatorium 
where he made a remarkable recovery. ‘The doctor 
told him that he was cured, that he could go home, 
et cetera, but that before doing so he should write a 
letter telling the family to expect him on a certain 
train. He wrote this letter, licked the stamp, but 
let it fall to the floor. It happened to fall buttered 
side down, of course, on a cockroach which pro- 
ceeded to move away with it. When the poor man 
got down to look for the stamp and saw it go across 
the room, over the baseboard, and then up the wall 
to the ceiling, he took his letter, tore it into shreds, 
and said: “Cured! Cured! I’m here for life!” 
And that’s the way I feel about this notion liner. 
“ I’m here for life — for life!”’ Four miles an hour 
seemed to be our average — now it’s about two. 

You will note that my first steamer letter was 
written on the Rio Paraguay, my second on the Rio 
Sao Lorenzo, and this on the Rio Cuyaba. Yes, 
different rios, but the same boat! I wish I could 
lose it — could get out and walk so as to make 
progress. 

Longfellow, ’'m reminded, called the slow, me- 
andering Songo, the stream that connects the 
Sebago and Long Lakes, “the crookedest river in 


218 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





the world.” Mr. Longfellow probably thought 
that he was telling the truth: but he never saw 
these rivers. Why, the Songo is a straight and 
narrow highway in comparison. And the man who 
is at the wheel — he is as black as coal and as old as 
“Old Black Joe” —is an artist at steering. 
What I’ve seen him do with this notion liner makes 
me believe that he could take that old game, “ pigs 
in clover,” and see the pigs in clover the first time 
and every time with his eyes shut. He is all right, 
if his ship isn’t. 

But we are on our way to Cuyaba — where 
there’s a home and church and school — where 
there’s a people, old and young, rich and poor, a 
people of all colors and conditions who need the 
gospel and are getting it through the lives and lips 
of Mr. and Mrs. Missionary. And Mr, and Mrs. 
Missionary know this: that’s why they are going 
back over these long, long, weary, weary miles. 
They have found a place in which to invest God’s 
great gift, life. Nothing else, I’m convinced by 
what they say and do, would cause them to return. 
It’s not salary. It’s not place. It’s not ease. 
It’s a consciousness and a confidence that God 
wants them here. ‘They, too, are saying, “ Woe to 
me, if I preach not the gospel to them that are in 
Cuyaba.” 

To these, Mr. and Mrs. Missionary, my hat is 
off. My heart is theirs. ‘They are the real article. 

P.S. Owning a car has put me under obliga- 
tions to the Standard Oil many times. But last 
night I added a new obligation. I took a bath in 

















Left to Right— H. O. Moser, R. G. McGregor, P. S. Landes 




















Left to Right — H. O. Moser, R. G. McGregor, P. S. Landes 
TRANSPORTATION BY MULE AND BY MOTOR IN MATTO GROSSO, 
THE “GREAT WILDERNESS.” (Part II, Ch. VI.) 





ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 219 





one of their five-gallon tins — not much of a tub 
but a pretty good bath. I’m trying hard to keep 
out of the great army of the unclean. 


On tHE Rio Cuyasa, 
February 21, 1925 


This rio is very disappointing. It proceeds abso- 
lutely on the basis that one good turn deserves 
another, and since there are so many of them and 
they all look alike to me, I confess to being not only 
confused but disappointed. You know the owner 
of this notion liner told us that we’d get to Cuyaba 
in from four to five days. Well, toward the end 
of the fourth day I began to look for it: but here 
it’s the sixth day and I’ve given up. Every now 
and then “ Old Black Joe” at the wheel blows the 
foghorn. At first I used to jump up and go for- 
ward only to find that instead of discovering Cu- 
yaba he had come across a half-naked Indian. Now 
I sit still. I’m becoming fond of these three hard 
benches. What he’ll do when he discovers the 
place I don’t know; but if he doesn’t blow up I will. 
Something will have to be done by way of cele- 
bration. 

Last night I was in a predicament. About mid- 
night a tropical rainstorm broke loose. Ever been 
in one? Well, one’s enough. I was in one of my 
two berths — the upper, over which Mr. and Mrs. 
Missionary had arranged for me a mosquito con- 
traption, fearfully and wonderfully made. Every- 


220 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





thing went well for a while. What did I care how 
hard it rained! Then I felt a drop on my nose, 
another, and another; then my toes were favored. 
Evidently the boat was not going to allow the S8.O. 
five-gallon tin to have anything on it. I’m afraid 
to report this to the captain. It would be like him 
to advertise “ shower baths ” aboard. 

But something had to be done. I could go down 
to the lower berth: but I could not take the mos- 
quito contraption with me and I knew that a thou- 
sand more or less of these friendly enemies were 
waiting for just such a move on my part. I had 
no raincoat — just that one lone sheet supplied by 
the boat. Something had to be done. The storm 
was getting worse and the only part of me not get- 
ting wet was the part which was not on top. Then 
an idea struck me. I thought of the previously 
mentioned Outlook and a Literary Digest. These 
I tore apart and proceeded to shingle myself with 
their pages. Quite a trick, dear friends! Try it 
some time. But again, I “longed for the day.” 


February 22, 1925 


We are still churning the water to the speed of 
three miles an hour. It’s a week to-day since we 
left Corumba. The trip was to take from four to 
five days. It’s now seven with at least two more 
to go. I had hoped to be able to attend service in 
the Cuyaba church to-day. Now that that’s im- 
possible, my mind is turning to the return trip. 
If this rate of travel keeps up, I should be well on 


ON THE ROAD TO CUYABA 221 





my way back before I arrive. ‘This is South 
America for you. 

Yet the missionary says that he loves it because 
he sees so much to be done and so much that only a 
Christian man and woman can do. I tell you these 
good young people have won me over to them, boot 
straps and all. They are the real stuff and I’m 
thankful beyond words that for these few days at 
least it has been mine to share their plans, hopes, 
and ambitions. ‘They are the real stuff. 


R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER VI 


CUYABA, A MISSION STATION IN MATTO 
GROSSO, THE “GREAT WILDERNESS” 


CuyaBA, Brazit, 
February 26, 1925 


OES “ Eureka ” mean “ I’ve arrived,” or does 

it simply mean, “I’ve found”? I’m not 
quite sure. In this case, let it mean both arrived 
and found, since I did both simultaneously early 
last Monday morning — arrived in and found the 
long-looked-for Cuyaba. We have three mis- 
sionary couples at work here — Rev. and Mrs. 
Philips Landes, Mr. and Mrs. Homer O. Moser, 
and Rev. and Mrs. Adam J. Martin, whom we met 
at the Mission meeting in Castro but who are re- 
turning next month to the States on furlough. Mr. 
and Mrs. Moser are the Mr. and Mrs. Missionary 
of my travels. Upon our arrival we came to the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Landes, who had moved into 
a new house only two days before. After break- 
fast, Mr. Landes proposed that I take a stroll into 
the town. We visited the market place, saw some 
of the public buildings, called on several of the mer- 
chants, members of our Church, and then went 
to the church buildings which I found more than 
usually impressive in architecture, size and ma- 
terial. 

222 


CUYABA, IN THE GREAT WILDERNESS 228 





Up in the Chapada, seven leagues, or twenty- 
eight miles, away we have the Burity School, started 
just a year ago. ‘To see this was counted most im- 
portant, so after luncheon we started in a Ford 
which was to take us the first stretch of the dis- 
tance. The second stretch of seven miles we 
walked. This brought us to an Indian hut where 
Indian hospitality, the privilege of hanging our 
hammocks in the best room, and some food was 
offered. After we had eaten, we held a gospel serv- 
ice, Landes preaching to some dozen or more In- 
dian men, women, and children. Karly the next 
morning, after sharing Indian hospitality again, we 
started afoot for a place five miles distant where we 
were to get mules for the rest of the journey. 

Now, out here it’s one thing to own animals — 
mules, horses, and cows — and it’s another thing to 
be able to find them when you want them. Ani- 
mals not in use are allowed to roam ad libitum. 
We arrived at nine in the morning, but it was three 
in the afternoon before the animals were found and 
saddled, and it was seven in the evening before we 
reached Burity, too late to see, but not too late to 
talk about the place, plan and purpose of the 
school. 

Mr. Missionary was one of the party and since 
he and Mrs. Missionary are in charge of the school 
he could and did speak with authority. Here’s his 
story: “ We (for the Foreign Board) bought this 
property in November, 1921. It consists of 
twenty-four square miles. We had to buy all 
these miles of land in order to get the two houses 


224 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


deemed necessary for school purposes. It was all 
or nothing; but as all, land, houses, wonderful 
water supply for power as well as drinking pur- 
poses, dozens of orange and mango trees, hundreds 
of pineapples, et cetera, were to be had for $2,000, 
we felt that we were not gambling with the Board’s 
money. 

“Well, we opened school July 1, 1924, and we 
had seven students whose ages ran from eleven to 
twenty-five years, and who paid 35 milreis ($4.00) 
a month for tuition, board, room rent, books, et 
cetera. This year, which will begin March 9, we 
expect 15 scholars. ‘The teaching force will be as 
last year, my wife and I with a young Brazilian 
who is preparing himself for the ministry; so, too, 
will the tuition. We don’t know where we'll put 
all these boys and girls, but they seem to be willing 
to put up with inconveniences, so we'll try to make 
out. But please tell the Board back home that we 
have a going concern here and by the grace of God 
we'll lay the foundation broad and deep, so that 
from this school there shall go out young people 
who are saved themselves and determined to help 
to save others for Jesus Christ.” 

This was the missionary’s story: and if you could 
have heard him speak, if you could have seen him 
wave aside the difficulties, if you could have caught 
the fire in his eye as he emphasized the possibilities, 
you would have said, “ Of course, this is a going 
concern.” No one but God can stop such a man: 
and God never does. He may bury His Moses, but 
somewhere He always has a Joshua to carry on. 


"(96g *d) ., paoty 94} Jo vureU ot} 
ur Stouurq dry} dn yos oavy sofdnoo Sunod 2014} voe{d AB M-9}-JO-]NO ‘1ey 


SI} UL ‘etay osnevoeq :Aoudnol aT YIOM eB S4t yn ‘Yoved 07 dovTd vB JO 10110} B st BqeaAnd,, 
‘aanjord ayy JO 1ozUI. sy} UT St YounyO UPLIOJAQSOL OWT, 


V€VANO AO ALIO AHL 








AN 

















ANSARI 
oe Eis ogl. ae 
eg 
f Pp . aa 


peu 
“Ay - 
ea 
r) ’ 
+) 
in 
} 7 | 
7 my ( re 
; 
a ] 
Ld * 
L. 
A 5 
; 
Meo 
oa 
‘ ” 





i ns 


CUYABA, IN THE GREAT WILDERNESS 225 





The next morning we began the long trek back. 
Did you ever know that twenty-eight miles can be 
fifty-six miles without losing your way? Well, 
they can be. All you have to do is to be a neophyte, 
get on a mule, which we did at nine in the morning, 
and ride all day under a tropical sun with little to 
eat and still less to drink. Do this and you'll see 
how easy it is to make it fifty-six miles — and how 
difficult it is the next day to take fifty-six steps. 

But we arrived home at seven in the evening. 
We had come to the end of a long, if not a perfect, 
day, thankful for what we had seen and done in 
the sixty hours we had been away. 

I was too tired to sleep that night and the mos- 
quitoes were on hand to see that, too tired or not, 
I did not sleep. Next morning, I went with 
Landes — Cuyaba, you know, is his parish — into 
a number of the poor houses to see the sick and 
shut-ins. What I saw and felt I shall never forget. 
I saw the faces of the hopelessly sick light up when 
he entered the room; I saw the aged reach out to 
him as they would for a staff on which to lean; I 
saw the people from the street crowd into the room 
where he entered in, and when he said, “‘ Let us 
pray,” which he did in most of these homes, there 
seemed to be a peace and a power pervading the 
place more than suggestive of the days when our 
Lord “ went about doing good.” 

That afternoon, by appointment, we called on 
the president of the state, who, like our governor, 
is elected by the people and for a term of four 
years. Then followed a conference in the church 


226 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





with the four missionaries, and that night I had the 
privilege of speaking to the Church members at a 
special service in the church. 

To-day I have learned definitely that no boat 
will leave for the return trip until next Wednesday. 
This is a disappointment, but it will give me the 
chance to see the Sunday-school work, preach at 
the evening service, and attend some of the out- 
of-door preaching services conducted every Sunday 
afternoon by the elders of the church. 

Cuyaba is a terror of a place to reach, but it’s a 
worth-while journey: because here, in this far, out- 
of-the-way place three young couples have set up 
their banners in the name of the Lord. Here, on 
the frontier of Brazil’s extending population they 
are at work blasting away the rocks of ignorance 
and superstition, filling in the valleys of hatred and 
indifference, and making straight the highway of 
our God. Don’t try to tell them that they made a 
mistake in coming so far from other missionary 
work and workers. They have not time to argue 
this. ‘They settled this question long ago. They 
know they are right and so do I. What they ask 
for, and what they should get from us as a Board 
and from our Church at large, is that support in 
prayer and giving which will help them to hasten 
the day when our Lord shall have full sway in the 
hearts and lives of these needy and very much 
worth-while people. 

I expect to leave here for Sao Paulo next 
Wednesday. To-day, Dr. Speer, Mr. Wheeler, 
and others should leave New York for Rio, 5,000 


CUYABA, IN THE GREAT WILDERNESS 227 





miles away. I’m only 2,000 miles away: but they 
will beat me to it by days. ‘This is Cuyaba, and 
don’t forget that this is the place where three of 
our young missionary couples are busy doing God’s 
work. 


Sao Pauto, Brazit, 
March 14, 1925 


I arrived in civilization, Sao Paulo, yesterday, 
pretty well tired, but happy that I went to Cuyaba. 
Perhaps when you have read all my letters you will 
be sorry I went. Ican’t help that. I just had to. 
I’ve told you that at times I could not sleep. It 
was not all due to mosquitoes. Part of it was due 
to Mr. and Mrs. Missionary and the little Mis- 
sionaries whom I had come to know in Brazil and 
Chile, and through whom I was made to feel I knew 
all the world over: because, no doubt, every land 
has its Cuyaba, its difficult frontier. I’ve always 
been a missionary pastor, but I have required this 
trip to get the facts. Now that I have them, now 
that I’ve travelled with the missionary, have lived 
with him and worked with him, I’m his, hand, 
head, and heart. 

At Bauru on my way out of the interior I had 
the pleasure of meeting Senor Oscar de Costa 
Marques, of Corumba, who had entertained Mr. 
Roosevelt and his son, Kermit, at his magnificent 
fazenda on their way to the River of Doubt. He 
told with much spirit of Mr. Roosevelt’s cour- 
age. He said that Mr. Roosevelt was not a good 
shot because his eyes bothered him — though his 


228 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


son, Kermit, was an excellent shot — but the way 
in which Mr. Roosevelt met and killed his first ofica, 
or Brazilian jaguar, while afoot in grass four feet 
high, captivated his host. He quoted Mr. Roose- 
velt as saying, “In four hundred years this river 
section of Brazil will be the granary of the world,” 
and Senor Marques added with much admiration, 
‘“ He was a great man!” Sohewas. Mr. Roose- 
velt, wherever he went, made that impression. He 
was generally right on political and moral ques- 
tions, and probably he was right in this world- 
granary prophecy. Four hundred years are a long 
time. 

What do you think will happen in four hun- 
dred years with the seed Mr. and Mrs. Missionary 
are planting? What do you think? Twelve 
generations will have come and gone. I will 
tell you what I think. Whether Mr. Roose- 
velt’s prophecy comes true or not, the seed Mr. 
and Mrs. Missionary are planting to-day will 
make that river section a part of the world granary 
of souls saved for Jesus Christ. Why am I so 
sure? Because I have in mind another prophecy. 
Here it is: “ For as the rain cometh down and the 
snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but 
watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and 
bud, and giveth seed to the sower and bread to the 
eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of 
my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it 
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall 
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” 

What a glorious thing it would be to see these two 








SON NEB TR ARR i i i 
ss Seek Se ce 








CPariel [Chai be 


CHURCH IN CUYABA 


CSBYTERIAN 


k 


rn oR 





CUYABA, IN THE GREAT WILDERNESS 229 





prophecies approach their realization together! 
Could you see this river country and then see our 
work you would realize that we have a fine start. 

To-night I am off for Rio where Mrs. Gillmore 
and Miss Reid have already gone for the confer- 
ence. I assure you it will be a joy to see Dr. 
Speer, Mr. Wheeler, and others. 


R. G. McG. 


CHAPTER VII 
CURITYBA AND PONTA GROSSA 


Sao Pavuto, Brazit, 
February 20, 1925 


FE, took a river boat from Buenos Aires to 

Montevideo, transshipping there to the 
ocean steamer, a French boat, very comfortable, 
and of course we had a lovely, cool sail up the coast 
to Santos, Brazil. Dr. Waddell met us there and 
after a day of seeing the town we took the first 
train out and reached Sao Paulo that afternoon. 
We went there to the Esplanada Hotel, the best we 
have seen in our travels. The clerk told us at once 
that General Pershing had just left there and he 
was proud of the fact that the North Americans 
had stayed at his hotel. We have followed Gen- 
eral Pershing in several places and hear nothing 
but praise of him. He seems to have made a fine 
impression wherever he went, always doing and 
saying the right thing. It does much to cement 
the good feeling between the countries to have men 
of his stamp come to South America. 

Monday was a holiday, but Dr. Waddell made 
arrangements with the authorities to take our 
fingerprints, for the rules are very strict now and 
we could not leave the state without a salvo con- 
ducto. It took all day, at intervals, to accomplish 
this and it was considered a great favor to do it at 

230 


CURITYBA AND PONTA GROSSA 231 





all. So we got off the next day for Castro, already 
several days late for the Mission meeting. We 
had a comfortable trip if a long one, for the road 
was laid by an engineer of another country who 
was paid by the kilometer, so he took pains to make 
the track wind all over the map. In one place we 
could see six lines of track. We curved around 
hill after hill so the engine was constantly in sight. 
We became quite attached to it because it always 
looked so earnest and businesslike with its great 
pile of wood for fuel — taking this so much longer 
route so patiently instead of going a short cut 
across the country. But having a one-track mind 
is an admirable quality in an engine. 

The Mission meeting was extremely interesting 
—a contrast to Chile, for there we had seen the 
work first and could better give an opinion. Here 
we knew only what we had been told in New York 
and judged by what we heard after we arrived, but 
we could help with some of the questions. There is 
a fine group of missionaries here, with a splendid 
spirit. 

We made many plans and finally settled on Dr. 
McGregor’s going to the interior with Mr. and 
Mrs. Moser to see the work in Matto Grosso. It 
takes so long to go there that he will get back only 
in time for the Montevideo Conference. They go 
by train and river steamer and finally by mules. 
He will have a great tale to tell when he comes 
back. We have had a telegram from him, saying 
that they were all well and making unusually good 
connections on the funny trains and steamers. 


232 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Miss Reid and I were to take a short trip to- 
gether and then separate, Miss Reid going south 
and I going north, but at the last minute the first 
trip had to be given up because of unrest in the 
section, so we went to Curityba to see the girls’ 
school and work there. Miss Reid stayed two days, 
then went to Ponta Grossa for the service there. I 
stayed over Sunday. They gave us a party Friday 
evening in the house of one of the members. It 
was a great affair. First our path was strewn with 
flower petals, then the minister presented us with 
huge bouquets, accompanied by a speech that con- 
tained more flowers than the bouquets. ‘There 
was instrumental and vocal music, and more 
speeches; then we were presented with three pieces 
of woodwork, articles made from some of the beau- 
tiful native woods. ‘Then we went into the dining 
room to a table that should have groaned with the 
weight of viands. It was a strenuous evening. 

Sunday was also a strenuous day for me. I 
spoke first to a fine Sunday school. This is in the 
national church, the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. 
They have a good piece of property with room for 
a new Sunday-school building; there is already a 
manse and a good church. The pastor, a young 
Brazilian from the north with a French wife, is 
doing a fine piece of work there. I preached the 
sermon (?) at the morning service and again in 
the evening. I never did like to see a woman in 
the pulpit, but here I suppose my duty is to do 
whatever I am asked. Mr. Lenington acted as 
interpreter, 


= 


° 


i 

’ by 
tater f tat 
tat b ney. ane 


ray i 





THE GIRLS SCHOOL AT CURITYBA (p. Zoo 

















THE MAIN SCHOOL 


BUILDING 


AT 


CASTRO 











CURITYBA AND PONTA GROSSA 233 





While we were at Curityba we went for a day 
to Parangua, a four hours’ trip toward the coast. 
Our missionaries have been stationed there and 
have made converts, but the work now is in the 
hands of the Baptists and Lutherans. There are 
two quite large churches and active congregations. 
It was a most beautiful trip through the moun- 
tains. The trees were hung with a wealth of or- 
chids and hanging moss, and everywhere were 
lovely flowers and birds. Occasionally in the mass 
of unknown wild flowers would be some joe-pye 
weed and Michaelmas daisies which made us feel 
at home. The alleluia tree was in bloom. It is 
connected in the minds of Christians with Easter, 
because the flower comes out a vivid pink and 
changes in three days to a pure white. Some of the 
woods were yellow with mimosa. ‘The bird we saw 
most often was the ibis, quite as much at home as 
the flamingo in the Argentine. We saw emus in 
the Argentine, too, but I am not quite sure whether 
they are birds or animals. 

After the visit to Curityba was ended Mr. Len- 
ington took me to Ponta Grossa to see the work 
which Mr. and Mrs. Cook are carrying on there. 
It is five hours by train from Curityba, much 
shorter as the crow flies, but we were still on the 
winding railroad. ‘There is a good church there at 
which Miss Reid spoke on Sunday to a large audi- 
ence. There is a flourishing Sunday school and a 
large Christian Endeavor society, all being carried 
on in the face of much opposition. How anyone 
can think that South America does not need help 


234 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


is more than I can see. Miss Reid joined us and 
we came on to Senges to see the church in charge 
of a converted priest, a well-educated man who 
has control of the town of one thousand people. 
We arrived at nine in the evening to find a great 
crowd of people who had come to meet Mr. Len- 
ington. He used to be here, and the people are 
devoted to him. It was quite dark and we had to 
walk over the railroad bridge, rather slippery in 
the rain and with only the ties to walk on, but no 
one fell through and we arrived safely at the pas- 
tor’s house where we stayed for two days, visiting 
his school of about ninety pupils and speaking at 
the evening service on Wednesday. 

After some more fuss about our salvos conductos 
we came on to Sao Paulo to Dr. Waddell’s. Miss 
Reid is planning to stay here until the regional 
conference in Rio. She is hoping to help in the 
office for this month and see the work of the school. 
Traveling in South America is not all nectar and 
ambrosia, but Miss Reid has been a brick about 
accepting whatever came and making the best of 
it. As soon as connections can be made I am going 
up into the interior of Goyaz with Mr. and Mrs. 
Graham. It will be much the same kind of trip 
Dr. McGregor is taking. A new work is opening 
there in a most promising field. They want one of 
us to see it so we can enlist sympathy for it at 
home. It is in the part of the country where the 
capital is to be moved and will be an important 
strategic point. We will stop at Campinas on the 
way up, to see the seminary. 


CURITYBA AND PONTA GROSSA 235 





We are all having a wonderful time and are 
grateful to the Board for making it possible. And 
we are trying our utmost to do the work intrusted 
to us. 


M. Mcl. G. 


CHAPTER VIII 
GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 


Sao Pavuto, Brazit, 
March 13, 1925 


HEN the Committee of Arrangement asked 
me to take a trip to the interior of Goyaz, 
I thought that meant Indians and snakes and 
orchids, romance and adventure spelled with cap- 
ital letters. I was keen to go; but there were no 
Indians, very few orchids, and the nearest ap- 
proach to a snake was the skin of a small water 
python — only twenty feet long, the natives said 
with an apologetic air. My air would have been 
apoplectic if I had met it in the flesh. The good- 
sized ones are from thirty to forty feet long. 
Mr. Lenington went with me as far as Campinas 
where I stopped overnight to see the seminary and 
join Mr. and Mrs. Graham, a bride and groom 
who were going to their station in Planaltina, in 
the state of Goyaz. We broke the first night’s 
journey by stopping overnight at Ribierao Preto 
at the Southern Methodist Girls’ School, presided 
over most ably by Miss Putnam. One is struck by 
the fine order and cheerful atmosphere of the place. 
The town is progressive and prosperous for it is in 
the midst of the rich coffee estates. One planta- 
tion near here has 3,000,000 coffee trees, with 5,000 
people employed to care for them. It takes the 
236 


GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 237 


trees about twelve years to mature. When they 
are young, corn is planted between the rows to 
shield the plants from the sun; in order to use the 
ground, the owners are experimenting with what 
they call dry rice, rice that will grow in dry 
ground. The rice plants looked strong and 
promising. 

In the more remote sections of the country the 
trains do not run at night, so we stopped for the 
night and Sunday at Araguary. The hotel left 
much to be desired — in fact, everything. It was 
a busy day and a full house. All the bed linen 
was in use, so my top sheet was a red table cover. 
These hotels are patronized chiefly by people who 
stay one night. ‘That would naturally mean a 
great deal of washing of bed and table linen, so it 
is taken to the kitchen, pressed out, and put back 
without the formality of washing. I thought be- 
cause the napkins were warm it meant they had 
been washed, but was warned not to use them be- 
cause of the danger of infectious diseases. It is 
much safer to wash your hand thoroughly with 
antiseptic soap and use the back. Almost always 
the pillow had some kind words embroidered on it 
— “Sleep well,’ or “ Good morning,” in Portu- 
guese of course. That helpeda little. The farther 
inland we went the more primitive the hotels be- 
came. In three of the towns there was no glass in 
the windows, just board shutters which had to be 
shut when it rained so the room was quite dark. 
The walls do not go to the ceiling. That made a 
good circulation of air through the house and a 


238 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





feeling of intimacy with the other guests and the 
family. In one place a pigeon sat on the floor of 
my room all night, and every time I coughed it 
cooed in the most soothing way, as though to say, 
“You poor thing, how did you get such a cold?” 
The cold started because there was a wreck on the 
road as usual, and we had to walk around it in the 
rain, through wet grass and through a little brook 
that was too wide to jump, and I had to keep on 
my wet clothes all day. Then when we reached 
the hotel that night, I found a black table cover 
for the upper sheet and a black comfortable, all 
of which I folded and laid on the floor and wrapped 
myself in a cape that was still damp, but there was 
nothing else available. The cold did not last long 
— I was too busy. 

We found a nice church at Araguary, the 
Brazilian Presbyterian, with a national pastor who 
is doing good work. Mr. Hardie, of the Southern 
Presbyterian Church, happened to be there at the 
same time, so I spoke at the Sunday school and 
he had the church service. There was a large con- 
gregation of interested people, who listened to his 
sermon with the usual courteous attention. ‘There 
is always the same friendly atmosphere with the 
bouquet of flowers at the end. ‘The nationals are 
always eloquent and unhurried. ‘The Sunday- 
school lesson was taught by a young pastor from 
Rio de Janeiro, and lasted an hour. We went 
afterwards to the pastor’s house for tea and then 
to call on an elder. Five hours passed before we 
returned to the hotel. The pastor gave me two 


GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 239 





delicious mangoes, the best fruit I know of. Mod- 
eration has to be used, however, for too many of 
them cause some trouble. They have a slight taste 
of turpentine, so perhaps they would give you 
painter’s colic if eaten to excess. 

We left Araguary Monday morning by rail for 
Ipamery, a run of about seven hours. ‘The time- 
tables are works of art in this country. The pic- 
ture of a crossed knife and fork means either that 
a diner is put on at that station or that a meal may 
be had at the station. A bed shows a sleeper, and 
a steamboat, the boat connection. The hours run 
from one to twenty-four as they do on the Con- 
tinent, so one may arrive at one’s destination at 
1620 like any Pilgrim Father. The road is gener- 
ally narrow gauge and the train rocks unmerci- 
fully. Because of the motion, and perhaps be- 
cause the people do not travel often, many of them 
were actively car sick. 

Ipamery is a small town of one-story adobe 
houses, whitewashed, with red-tile roofs. The 
plaza is well laid out and tended, with a band stand 
in the center. Once in about four months a na- 
tional pastor or a missionary visits the town and 
holds a service in a private house. They are soon 
going to start a Sunday school with a young girl 
to lead it. They avoided the use of the word Prot- 
estant in Brazil by calling the Church members 
Crentes, which means “ believers.” Mr. Graham 
wanted to see one of his friends, so Mrs. Graham 
and I went with him to see the town. We had not 
been in the shop five minutes before there was a 


240 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





sound across the plaza like the back fire of an 
automobile. It sounded too much like New York 
for us to pay any attention to it, but the natives 
knew better. Everyone ran out to the street, and 
we did, too, to see a crowd of men struggling out 
of a drinking place. In the midst of the crowd 
a soldier held a man he was endeavoring to arrest. 
It seems that there had been a row and the man 
had shot at the town dyer; he did not hit him, but 
it annoyed the dyer extremely and there was 
much loud talking and much running to and fro. 
Finally the would-be assassin was taken to the 
police court, the dyer ran to the school to place 
his two little boys in safety, and another man 
ran for the police. Everyone in the town was 
on the street. About half an hour later when 
the excitement had rather subsided, a Ford dashed 
up honking madly, filled with policemen armed 
with guns and ready for anything. Later we 
saw it returning from the police station with the 
prisoner and all the policemen, who were not only 
taking the man to the jail but protecting him 
from the infuriated dyer. ‘Two days later, after 
we had left, there was another shooting affray. A 
~ man shot another through the head, but evidently 
his head had nothing in it at the time for he went 
about his business; then the gunman went to the 
drug store to look for another friend to shoot, but 
he was not there so he stabbed a man who was pur- 
chasing some medicine and killed him instantly. 
All in one week! 

We left the railroad at Ipamery and went the 


GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 241 





rest of the way by motor bus, 216 miles. The bus 
was an antique, with burlap nailed over boards for 
seats. We were filled to capacity with ten pas- 
sengers and two chauffeurs. We needed both 
chauffeurs, for we broke down quite often and 
spent much time with repairs, so much time that 
darkness overtook us before we reached Christal- 
lina where we were to spend the night; the lights 
would not stay hghted so we went the last two 
leagues by my flash light. We had to cross several 
bridges that are made in a most sketchy way so 
that the cattle will not cross. They were just loose 
boards or poles laid for each wheel, with a yawning 
hole between; some of them were made of two hol- 
lowed-out logs. This seemed a little safer, for if 
the wheels hit the bridge at all they could not slip 
out of the trough. We traveled 100 miles the first 
day and 116 the next, through miles of partly cut 
forest. Between Ipamery and Christallina there 
were three widely separated houses by the side of 
the road, and from Christallina to Planaltina there 
were none. 

When there was a clearing in the forest we had a 
lovely view of distant hills. There were always 
multitudes of wild flowers and many strange birds. 
We saw emus through the trees and enlivened the 
time by chasing a seriema, first cousin to a secre- 
tary bird, about half the size of an emu. The bird 
would run ahead of the automobile while we ¢a- 
reened along the road after it. As we came nearer 
and nearer, the bird looked wildly from side to 
side as if seeking a means of escape, then, when 


242 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





we were almost on it, it would spread its wings 
and fly into the woods. Generally after these 
chases the bus would break down awhile, so we had 
time to compose ourselves for the next event. 
Along the road were great ant hills six or eight 
feet high and another kind of mud nest on the 
trunk of a tree with a mud tunnel as an approach. 

We stopped by the roadside for lunch. There 
were shady woods near by but too many stinging 
and prying insects for us to sit there, so we sat on a 
log in the broiling sun and had an apostolic lunch— 
all the food was in common. All the men had both 
pistols and murderous-looking knives in their belts. 
The guns were not used at all and the knives only 
for cutting cheese and guava paste. The first night 
was spent in Christallina, just a little adobe village 
come into some prominence because of the crystal 
mines there. These crystals have been bought by 
Germans and Japanese, but there is a British army 
officer there now buying them up for the War De- 
partment to be used in some way which he would 
not divulge. He said the only other good crystal 
mines were in Madagascar, under the control of 
France, and he was much pleased to find these for 
Great Britain. 

We made an early start the next morning for 
Planaltina, which place we reached at three in the 
afternoon as the result of much speeding when the 
car would go at all. This is a most interesting 
place, for it is here, eventually, that the capital 
will be moved from Rio de Janeiro. When the 
republic was formed in 1889, a clause in the Con- 

















PLANALTINA, THE PROPOSED SITE OF THE CAPITAL OF BRAZIL 
“A clause in the Constitution calls for a tract of land... to be 
set aside for the future capital on the high plain of the 
state of Goyaz” (p. 243). 























THE MOTOR BUS TO PLANALTINA 


“The bus was an antique, with burlap nailed over boards for seats ” 
(p. 241). 


» 





GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 243 


stitution called for a tract of land 14,400 kilometers 
square to be set aside for the future capital on the 
high plain of the state of Goyaz. It is the most 
beautiful country, low hills with wooded mountains 
in the distance. It is a watershed, the streams and 
little rivers flowing both north and south — not the 
same ones of course. In 1922, the centenary of 
Brazilian independence, with much ceremony a 
corner stone was put up to mark the site of the 
future capitol. Now they are working on two rail- 
roads to bring them into this district, for of course 
no progress can be made until there is a railroad. 
Mr. Graham has bought a tract of land of 2,300 
acres in the district for a hospital site and farm 
school. ‘The land was 80 cents an acre. It has 
already gone up in value, and when the capital does 
finally come it will be immensely valuable. In the 
meantime he hopes to have a school and in time a 
church, and will be right in on the ground floor. It 
will be great to have a Protestant church grow up 
with the town. 

Whenever he is here, a meeting is held in the 
house of one of the believers — a pathetic meeting 
it is, for the people have aspirations but no means 
of satisfying them. There is now a teacher for the 
boys’ school but none for the girls, so the girls go 
without. I had a class one evening in English, and 
was interested to see how eager and quick the chil- 
dren were. Whenever we went out, everyone, in- 
cluding the village lunatic, turned out into the 
streets to see the bride. We stayed at a private 
home because there is no hotel in the place, so the 


24:4 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





neighbors often came in to watch us eat our 
meals. ‘They are such kindly people and have so 
little to be entertained by. ‘There are no sewers in 
the village and the water supply is a stream that 
runs through the streets or yards. I was glad the 
house where we stayed was the first in the village 
so that nothing but the cattle and goats and sheep 
drank at the stream first. Planaltina is 1000 
meters high, has good climate and cool nights. It 
has great possibilities. It depends now for its in- 
dustry upon a tanning factory and a sawmill. 
Houses are at a premium. They generally have 
the names of the owners painted in blue letters 
across the front, which is very convenient. 

When we started on the return Journey we were 
overtaken by a tropical cloud-burst and motored 
for eight miles with the road entirely under water. 
We bounced considerably. The men spread their 
ponchos, but in spite of that we were almost too 
wet. My hat was a total wreck. The only other 
woman on the trip down was a native with a goiter 
at least half the size of her head. I had to look at 
her for two days. Mr. Graham came with me as 
far as the railroad, then I came the rest of the way 
for a while with the British officer, and later was 
met at every station where I had to change cars 
by a national pastor or a missionary. I knew the 
hotels by this time and had no trouble. The people 
are immensely interested in a foreigner and very 
kind. But I never saw anything look so comfort- 
able as the hotel in Sao Paulo, or any food that 
tasted so good. 


GLIMPSES OF GOYAZ 245 





I know this is not a very “R. L. S.que” kind 
of letter, and I have not told you all the unpleasant 
things. Sometimes I thought I could not stand it 
a minute longer and then of course I did. But 
this is what these missionaries stand without a mur- 
mur — in fact, they are so interested in their work 
they do not notice many things that are hard to 
stand. ‘There is that sweet, refined Mrs. Graham 
looking forward with enthusiasm to spending years 
there and happy to do it for the good she can do. 
But that is the stuff missionaries are made of. 

I am going to Rio to-night. Miss Reid is 
already there and Dr. McGregor has just come in 
from Matto Grosso with a thrilling tale. We have 
a regional conference at Rio and then go on to 
Montevideo for the conference there and then home 
on the twenty-seventh. I shall leave this beautiful 
upside-down country with regret — upside-down 
because you go north to be warm and south to be 
cool, gardens are planted with a northern exposure 
for rapid growth, Orion is a summer constellation, 
February is midsummer, and the fences are deep 
ditches. There are many contradictions to us, but 
it is all quite fascinating. ‘The boat from the 
States was a day late in coming in so we have not 
heard yet who has come for the conference, but we 
shall be happy to see those good people. 


M. Mcl. G. 


CHAPTER IX 
MACKENZIE COLLEGE? 


Sao Pauto, Braziu, 
April 28, 1925 

N March 20 and 21 and on April 27: and 28, 

we had the pleasure of being in Sao Paulo 

and of visiting Mackenzie College. At other times 

during the past month I have had the opportunity 

of talking with Dr. Waddell and other members 

of the Mackenzie faculty. A summary of some of 

the impressions of the college is contained in this 
chapter. 

Before we reached Sao Paulo we had heard 
favorable comments in regard to the work of the 
college, both on the part of British and North 
Americans and on the part of Brazilians. The 
literature of the main steamship lines running 
from the United States contains complimentary 
references to Mackenzie College as an outstanding 
example of North American educational service. 
A guidebook to South America, recently published, 
devotes half a page to a description of the college. 
The institution is evidently a landmark in Sao 
Paulo, which is in certain ways the most influential 
city and center in Brazil. 

From the standpoint of the Brazilians it is evi- 
dent that the college had become the focal point 


1 A brief description of the College is also given in Chapter ITI. 
246 


MACKENZIE COLLEGE 247 





in the battle between the Liberals and the Con- 
servatives, the Liberals supporting it and of course 
the majority of its alumni being loyal to it, and the 
Conservatives and the clerical party being opposed 
to it. 

In general, from what we could learn, it can be 
maintained that Mackenzie College is one of the 
leading, if not the leading educational institution 
of its type in Brazil, all schools, Government and 
private, being included in this comparison. ‘The 
Mackenzie Schools of Engineering still hold first 
place in their standards and service in the re- 
public. 

A statement concerning the college, by its presi- 
dent, Dr. W. A. Waddell, gives a succinct sum- 
mary of its character and work: 

“ Mackenzie College was chartered by the Re- 
gents of the University of the State of New York 
in 1891. The Board of Trustees has its seat in 
New York. The first class graduated in 1900. 
Since then the sequence has been unbroken. The 
degrees given are Bachelor of Literature, Bachelor 
of Science, Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineer- 
ing, in Electrical Engineering, in Chemistry, in 
Architecture, — all five-year courses. ‘There are 
also shorter courses in industrial chemistry and 
pedagogy. ‘There are 175 college students. In 
1896 the schools from which the college grew, 
founded in 1871, were placed under its care. There 
are, at present, two high schools, commercial and 
preparatory, with 220 and 280 pupils, and a grade 
school of 700 pupils. ‘The total enrollment in 1925 


248 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





reached 1429 with a teaching force of 76 in all 
departments, with 15 in the office force. 

“The buildings would cost more than $400,000 to 
replace, having cost about $310,000, of which 
$135,000 came from the United States, the remain- 
der being obtained from school earnings. ‘There is 
an endowment of 600 contos ($80,000 at present 
rate of exchange) in bonds of the State of Sao 
Paulo, realized from the sale of a piece of property 
which became unsuitable for school purposes. 
There is no operating debt. The fixed debt is 
about $7,000, mostly a mortgage for property pur- 
chased, which the seller wishes to stand during her 
life. 

“For many years Mackenzie has lived on its own 
earnings. The contribution received from the 
Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
Church covered certain scholarships, netting heavy 
losses to the school. Since the above endowment 
became available in 1922, these scholarships are 
charged against it and the grant is withdrawn. 

“To accomplish self-support, the most rigid 
economy has been practiced, with the result of 
limiting many desirable activities. Teaching has 
had the right of way over everything else; experi- 
ments, whether in education or in scientific investi- 
gation, had to wait on means. Kven thus handi- 
capped the schools have been able to contribute 
very substantially to the progress of public instruc- 
tion, the grade school having furnished a model for 
the Sao Paulo school system, which is gradually 
being extended throughout Brazil. Each succeed- 


MACKENZIE COLLEGE 249 





ing change in the plan of higher education adopts 
more of the methods of the Mackenzie. Some valu- 
able scientific work has been done. All our gradu- 
ates, some 260 engineers and 360 commercials, are 
employed and we have always many calls, often 
including requests from the Government for men 
at good salaries. The national Government in 1922 
gave the Engineering School equal rights with its 
own schools. The college has done much to mediate 
American ideas to the Brazilians. Reference can 
be made to all Americans who have a knowledge of 
its work in support of its claims. 

“The college has made important contributions 
to the Protestant movement in Brazil. The Escola 
Americana from which the college grew up was 
organized to provide education for Protestant 
children persecuted in the priest-inspected public 
schools of the empire. Later when the republic 
secularized these schools, its value had become so 
clearly established that it was continued and de- 
veloped. 

“Here many of the most prominent ministers of 
the Presbyterian Church in Brazil had their pre- 
seminary course. North Americans present at the 
Montevideo Conference will remember Erasmo 
Braga, Alvaro Reis, and Mathatias Gomes dos 
Sanctos — all ex-students of Mackenzie — and 
those who attended the Regional Conference at 
Rio will remember the charming personality of a 
youthful matron, a graduate of the high school, who 
addressed the meeting in English. Many of the 
outstanding lay leaders of the Church are alumni. 


250 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Ex-students who have not adhered to the Protes- 
tant faith are almost without exception Liberals 
and their friendship opens many doors to the gos- 
pel. With the passing years the school has not 
changed its relation to the Protestant community. 
In 1925 twenty-three students, presented by their 
ecclesiastical authorities as candidates for the min- 
istry, are receiving free instruction and several of 
them free board. This number is greater than that 
of the students now in the seminary courses to 
which they are destined. 

“Throughout its history the school has carried a 
free list of from fifteen to twenty-five per cent, an 
expenditure amply justified by the positions at- 
tained and the service rendered by the great major- 
ity of these students. All classes of the community 
recognize the value of this service.” 

On March 20, Dr. Speer and I attended the 
morning chapel maintained for the students of the 
third- and fourth-year classes of the preparatory 
school, and then, in company with a group of dele- 
gates bound for Montevideo, had an enjoyable hour 
with Dr. Waddell, during which he spoke briefly 
on the history and development of the college and 
answered questions of all kinds in regard to the 
institution. We inspected the college buildings 
after this session and had some refreshments at Dr. 
Waddell’s hospitable home on the campus. At 
luncheon that day Dr. Speer and I had a more in- 
timate conference with Dr. Waddell. On the 
twenty-first Dr. Speer and I met with the council 
of the college, composed of the officers and deans 


‘ouRy IW CH “Ad ‘yueprsead 
qaul1oy Jo ysnq IY, (2A0qY) ‘TPPPBPM “V “M Feptsetd ‘raed “say stood 
aT “WU Ad “JIS “O “WV Used ‘uvuIysND “GS SoueL “SIT srouxyd ‘'( ‘W Ad — 4st 03 WI] 


SAadWVO ADATION AIZNEAMOVN AHI NO SALVDATAG OACIAALNOW UAWOS 








MACKENZIE COLLEGE 251 





of the college, representatives of the Brazilian 
Church, and representatives of the Missions. We 
talked with the various deans, especially with Mr. 
Slater and Mr. Piers, and tried to see as much of 
the work of the different departments and classes 
as we could. On my return trip up the Brazil 
coast, when my boat stopped at Santos yesterday, 
I was met by Dr. Waddell and came up with him 
to see Mackenzie again. This morning I visited 
the chapel exercises of the first-year class of the 
preparatory school, and had the opportunity of 
- visiting individual classes and departments, and of 
looking over the grounds again. 

The college owns about eleven and one half acres 
in one of the highest sections of Sao Paulo. The 
land was bought when the city had not grown out 
to it, and there was considerable speculation as to 
whether or not the city would ever reach the new 
site. Now it is in the best residential section, with 
strict development, and the building of new houses 
going forward beyond it. The land is valued at 
approximately $450,000 American gold, Dr. Wad- 
dell having been offered the other day $10 gold per 
square meter for the land which totals about 
45,000 square meters. ‘The purchaser offered in 
addition to pay for the buildings. 

When it is remembered that the total invest- 
ments from the United States for property in 
Mackenzie have been approximately $130,000 gold, 
and that the present buildings are worth approx- 
imately $350,000 gold, making a total valuation of 
$800,000 gold, and that the additions to the prop- 


252 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





erty, outside of those made possible by the funds 
from the United States, have been secured through 
economies and through income on the field, one is 
impressed anew with the wise and careful leader- 
ship in college finances shown by Dr. Lane and 
by Dr. Waddell. 

The question was raised by Dr. Speer as to 
whether the college would not gain by selling its 
present lands and buildings and by purchasing 
more land farther out and erecting new buildings 
there. Dr. Waddell was clear that the site was the 
best possible one that could be secured and that it 
would not be wise to move now. One receives the 
impression, however, that the present area is too 
small for an institution of the size of Mackenzie. 
The buildings of the college departments are set 
very closely together. One is reminded of the way 
space has to be utilized in certain sections of New 
York City, and of the way the buildings of the 
Union Medical College of the China Medical 
Board, in Peking, are crowded together because 
of the restricted space available for them. ‘The 
buildings of the college are three stories high, built 
of red brick; those of the lower schools are mostly 
of brick and stucco, are not so crowded, and, being 
newer buildings, are more attractive architecturally. 

All available space has been used most ingen- 
iously both in the college and in the lower schools. 
There are restrictions in regard to the students 
from the lower schools entering the college grounds, 
and the boys are not expected to invade the build- 
ings and the campus reserved for the girl students. 


MACKENZIE COLLEGE 253 





The Mackenzie quadrangle, between the two 
lines of college buildings, is most attractive with 
its background of evergreen trees and feathery 
bamboos. This court is reserved for the girls. One 
wishes that there had been more space and more 
funds available for this contribution to the natural 
attractiveness of the Mackenzie campus and to the 
beauty-loving minds and hearts of the girl students, 
as at Wellesley and Bryn Mawr or at the Women’s 
Colleges at Peking and Nanking. 

Certainly it can be said that every possible use 
has been made of the space available and every 
dollar put into the property has been carefully in- 
vested. 

The walls of the library are practically complete 
and the roofing and finishing of the interior are 
being delayed until the additional funds needed, 
approximately $5,000, can be secured. The build- 
ing, when completed, will have a unique place in 
the educational sphere, and we ought to secure at 
once the funds required to finish it. 

The question arises, of course, as to the possi- 
bility of securing more land if the college is to con- 
tinue in its present location. Dr. Waddell feels 
that there are other needs more pressing just now 
than additional land, but the college ought to be 
looking ahead to meet the requirements of the 
future. Dr. Job Lane, the son of Dr. Horace M. 
Lane, a former president of Mackenzie, owns about 
five acres immediately adjoining the college prop- 
erty and has stated verbally that the institution will 
be given an opportunity to purchase this property 


254: MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


before it is offered to any other buyer. Its present 
price would probably be between $5 and $10 gold 
a square meter. “There are about 25,000 square 
meters in all. He is holding the land as an invest- 
ment, with the expectation that it will appreciate 
in value and that he can realize more in the future 
for it than he can by selling now. It is not pro- 
ducing any income now, but the taxes are com- 
paratively low. I hope that part at least, if not 
all of this land, can be secured eventually. 

To one visiting the college for the first time three 
needs are apparent: the college needs more land, 
as has already been suggested, and I should like to 
see a chapel and assembly hall and more adequate 
facilities for athletics, including a track, a gymna- 
sium, and possibly another football field, and an 
athletic field which can be used by the girls. The 
college has no room large enough for the attend- 
ance either of the college students or of those in 
the lower schools. From the North American 
standpoint and from the viewpoints of colleges in 
other foreign lands, it would seem most desirable 
to provide facilities which would make possible the 
gathering of the total student body in one place. 
I believe that a chapel where this could be done 
would have a direct influence on the religious life 
of the students and upon their general religious 
spirit and morale. When one considers the moral 
conditions which surround boys and young men in 
Latin Ameriean lands, one appreciates anew the 
value of athletics and the training in clean living 
and self-control which they give. There is no track 


MACKENZIE COLLEGE 255 





and no gymnasium for the Mackenzie students at 
present, and only one football field for about 1,100 
boys and young men. 

If a man could be added to the faculty who could 
give his time to athletic supervision and to personal 
Christian fellowship and work with the students, 
I am sure that he could make a vital and lasting 
contribution to the Christian life and morale of the 
student body. 

In the Annual Report for 1924, Dr. Waddell 
lists certain definite needs for additional equip- 
ment and for current expenses: $7,000 to cancel 
Mackenzie’s debt in the United States, $5,000 of 
this owed to Mrs. Chamberlain, for the purchase 
of land years ago, and $2,000 which Dr. Alexan- 
der had generously advanced out of his own 
funds; $5,000 gold, rendered necessary by the 
general upset caused by the revolution last 
summer, $2,000 of this to be paid this year, 
$2,000 next year, and $1,000 the following year; 
$3,000 for the equipment of the chemical and 
physical laboratories and architectural and civil 
engineering courses; $5,000 to complete the library 
building; $4,700 for library books; $5,000 for ath- 
letic equipment and gymnasium, promised some 
time ago by the trustees, provided that an equiva- 
lent amount be raised on the field; $7,000 for a 
physics building, for which comparatively small 
sum Dr. Waddell states there can be put up a 
building which will be of practical value in this 
course; $2,000 for installing a balopticon and a 
motion-picture outfit for the scientific demonstra- 


256 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





tion and teaching of geography and history; and 
certain other items which look toward the future. 

These eight needs, all of them valid and obvi- 
ously desirable, total only $38,700. When this list 
is compared with the expensive totals which 
trustees of other colleges or universities abroad 
receive each year, one gains a true conception of 
the economy with which the college is being main- 
tained. Another vital need is an endowment fund 
which will provide an income of $5,000 gold 
annually. 

The salaries of the members of the faculty are 
clearly too low and must be raised. Dr. Waddell 
proposed to secure this increase through the raising 
of the fees for tuition and board of the students. 
There are few colleges on the foreign fields which 
would have courage enough to attempt to finance 
such an increase in salaries through their own re- 
sources without appealing to the trustees for help. 
However, the increase in fees would not cover 
another need of the faculty, that is, for funds to 
meet their furlough expenses and to provide for 
study when they are in the States. It is clear that 
such study is necessary if the educational standards 
of the faculty are to be maintained. The plan is 
to use the income from the fund of $100,000, if it 
can be secured, to cover such furlough study and 
furlough expenses of the faculty. 

There are other matters, in regard to Dr. Wad- 
dell’s resignation, which he would like to have 
accepted, to take effect April, 1926; in regard to 
his successor; an important matter which may affect 


MACKENZIE COLLEGE 257 





the Government recognition already accorded to 
the Engineering Schools of Mackenzie; and the 
service which Mackenzie can render by the better 
preparation of students for the ministry, for the 
discussion of which there is not space in this 
chapter. 

Dr. Waddell said, in a conference with the dele- 
gates to Montevideo, who were visiting the college, 
that the margin of safety in the current income of 
the college did not exceed five per cent. Other 
North American institutions or business corpora- 
tions desire a margin of sixty per cent or eighty per 
cent. No one can visit Mackenzie and study the 
work being done there without a profound realiza- 
tion of the almost superhuman efforts which have 
been made to make the best use of every dollar in- 
vested, and the outstanding success which has in 
the main attended these efforts. 

Mackenzie is a college set upon a hill, whose light 
cannot be hid, and it is sending forth its radiance 
into all parts of the great republic of Brazil. I 
know that any North American visitor would re- 
joice in what is being done here if he could have 
the opportunity of seeing with his own eyes the 
actual accomplishments of the institution, and that 
anyone who visualizes its achievements and oppor- 
tunities would be happy to have a share in the broad 
and deep service it is rendering to the youth of 
Brazil. 


W. R. W. 


CHAPTER X 


UP THE LADDER OF LATITUDE FROM 
BUENOS AIRES TO BAHIA 


Bau, BRAZIL, 
May 4, 1925 
N April 23, at seven in the evening, I arrived 
in Buenos Aires, Argentina; eight days later, 
on May 1, at ten at night, I reached Bahia, in 
tropical Brazil, twenty-two degrees nearer the 
Equator and nearly 2,000 miles farther north. 

On the journey from Buenos Aires to Bahia we 
had touched at the ports of Montevideo, Santos, 
and Rio, and had transshipped at the first and last 
cities. The return trip up the east coast of South 
America gave opportunity for revisiting work and 
places already seen on the way south, and I was 
grateful for many kindnesses of friends and 
acquaintances all along the way. 

My steamer, the Pan-America, left Buenos 
Aires at three o’clock April 23, and the Inter- 
nacional train from Mendoza did not reach the city 
until seven o’clock, but with the kind assistance of 
Mr. Ewing, of the Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
ciation, I caught the River Plate boat for Monte- 
video that night at ten and so boarded the Pan- 
America the next day. Mrs. W. E. Browning, 
in the absence of her husband who was in Chile, 
gave me freely of her time during the day in 

258 


FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BAHIA 259 





Montevideo, and helped me to outfit for the trip 
into tropical Brazil from Bahia. 

The Pan-America sailed at five o'clock, “April 
24, and reached Santos early on the morning of 
April 27. On Sunday, the twenty-sixth, we held 
an informal service on shipboard, and it was a great 
pleasure to come to know various fellow passengers 
through that service. I had boarded the steamer 
alone, and that is always a somewhat lonely 
experience, but at the first meal I discovered a 
Yale classmate, Bayard Rives, who was returning 
to New York after an interesting trip to Asuncion, 
the capital of Paraguay, as legal representative of 
a North American corporation which was offering 
to develop the harbor facilities of that city. Rives 
represents the best type of North American busi- 
ness man, and commercial relations between North 
and South and investment of capital would result 
more happily if more men of his integrity and 
culture were engaged in such activity. Later I 
met Walter Bartholomew, an engineer, a brother 
of Marshall Bartholomew, Yale ’07, who is now 
director of the Yale Glee Club, and after the serv- 
ice, Mr. Thomas EK. Coale, President of the T. E. 
Coale Lumber Company of Philadelphia, Hon. 
and Mrs. J. D. Fredericks, of Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, the former a member of the national House 
of Representatives, and Senator and Mrs. Wesley 
L. Jones, of Seattle, Washington, Senator Jones 
having had a leading part in recent shipping 
legislation of our Government. Our little group 
of North American Protestants met and joined in 


260 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





the service on shipboard in those South Atlantic 
waters and along that Roman Catholic seaboard, 
and were drawn Closer to one another because of 
the hour spent together in that way. 

Dr. W.-A. Waddell, President of Mackenzie 
College, was on the pier at Santos, where we 
arrived early on the morning of the twenty-seventh. 
He took me up to Sao Paulo, and I had an interest- 
ing and well-occupied twenty-four hours at Mac- 
kenzie College, dictating to Dr. Waddell’s capable 
secretary (a stenographer who can take English is 
a rare treasure in South America), conferring with 
Dr. Waddell and Mr. Stewart in regard to college 
matters, and meeting with a group of the teachers 
and with various classes of students at their chapel 
exercises. We called on Dr. Job Lane, the son of 
the former president of Mackenzie College, who 
has an authoritative position in the medical pro- 
fession in Sao Paulo. Incidentally I learned that 
he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania 
in 1898, and was on his university track team with 
such well-known stars as George Orton, Kranzlein, 
and McCracken. Dr. McCracken is now in China 
and Dr. Lane in Brazil; they are both giving them- 
selves to the service of others in the same high and 
effective spirit in which they served their university 
in undergraduate days. 

We left Sao Paulo at noon on the twenty-eighth: 
the Pan-America sailed at six and arrived in Rio 
at daybreak the twenty-ninth. There I changed 
to the S.S. Orania of the Royal Holland Lloyd 
(Koninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd) and sailed for 


FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BAHIA 261 


Bahia about four o’clock. Dr. Donald C. Mac- 
Laren came down to the boat and helped me to do 
various final errands in Rio. We entered the 
spacious harbor of Bahia at ten o’clock on the eve- 
ning of May 1, and there I disembarked after eight 
interesting days along the coasts of Argentina, 
Uruguay, and Brazil. 

Bahia has not had a favorable reputation on 
account of the prevalence of yellow fever and other 
tropical maladies there, but representatives of the 
Rockefeller Foundation have rendered most valu- 
able service in the improvement of health con- 
ditions, and the year 1924 was the first on record 
when not a single case of yellow fever was re- 
ported. 

Shortly after I had gone to my pension in Bahia, 
one of the guests there said that another guest, a 
woman, had left on the boat which had brought me 
to Bahia with the coffin of her husband, who had 
died at the pension with what was diagnosed as 
typhus fever. There was also a representative of 
a Belgian corporation staying at the pension, who 
had been so ill from malarial fever contracted in 
Cachoeira, which is on the way to Ponte Nova, that 
he had been compelled to drop his work tempo- 
rarily while he recovered his health and strength. 
These reports did not make for a very auspicious 
welcome to Bahia, but it developed later that the 
typhus rumor was probably not correct and, as 
succeeding chapters will show, the journey into the 
interior from Bahia was made with no ill effects. 
The missionaries in the city and state of Bahia go 


262 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





forward with their work without thought of any 
possible dangers from injury or disease. 

There are few coasts with such beautiful harbors, 
and it seemed that our steamers chose the most 
favorable time for entering and leaving each port. 
When we left Montevideo, we saw the light wink- 
ing and flashing on the top of the “ Montevideo 
Hill”; above it the silvery new moon and the 
shining Pleiades and Southern Cross, the signal 
light and moon and stars mirrored in the quiet bay 
and reproduced in the crescent of lights stretching 
far around the harbor shore. The lights of Santos 
and its sheltered harbor shone over the sea long 
after we had left our anchorage there, and the in- 
comparable Bay of Rio seemed even more mag- 
nificent by sunrise and sunset as we entered and 
left it for the second time. 

Bahia is a fitting climax to this chain of beau- 
tiful ports. The city is one of the oldest in 
Brazil, the one-time capital of the country and 
the center of the slave trade and of the power 
of the Roman Church. It is protected by a 
great wall rising from the level of the sea, 
built by slave labor and resembling the great walls 
of Cartagena in Colombia. The full name of the 
city is Bahia de Todos Santos de San Salvador, 
but it is known generally as Bahia, or “ Bay,” and 
this surviving title indicates the most conspicuous 
and beautiful portion of its landscape. A wonder- 
ful bay it is, with less gigantic and incredible moun- 
tain ramparts than at Rio, but surrounded instead 
by friendly wooded hills. The bay is less cut by 


FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BAHIA 263 


ees sn nn 


inlets and is wider than the bay at Rio, and 
“ stretches forward free and far ” as one sails up to 
the city built upon high land on its eastern shores. 
Here we are only thirteen degrees from the Kqua- 
tor and the air is lifeless and still, with rarely a puff 
of wind to stir the quiet waters of the harbor or the 
feathery palms that stand so still upon the surround- 
ing hills. As I look down upon the bay from this 
pension on the hill, I see the wee fishing boats with 
triangular sails, apparently motionless on the 
glassy waters, “as idle as a painted ship upon a 
painted ocean.” There is no sign of human habita- 
tion on the farther shores two or three miles away, 
and nothing to indicate that the scene is not that of 
two or three centuries ago. You can almost see 
the slave ships coming up the bay, loaded with their 
pitiable cargoes of suffering, abject humanity, torn 
from their native shores and brought to this “ new 
world” under the approval of so-called Christian 
monarchs and the Roman Catholic Church. You 
can almost catch the glint of the sunlight on the 
shields and cuirasses of the soldiers in that farther 
caravel with the Portuguese flag at its masthead, 
or of that other ship hovering out to sea with the 
lions of Aragon and Castile on the crimson and 
yellow banner fluttering aloft; and you can almost 
hear the clanging of the bells of the cathedral wel- 
coming the bishops and clergy and officers of the 
Holy Inquisition and the secular arm of the Church 
as they enter the imposing gateway in the great 
city wall. 

The spirit of the past hangs over Bahia and 


264 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


permeates its whole atmosphere — a past of cruelty 
and superstitions and evil, wrought in part by 
those who called themselves priests of God, and 
leaving a stench that remains even to this day. 
For Bahia to-day, with nearly all of its popula- 
tion of 300,000 descendants of those people of 
Africa brought bound to its shores, with seventy 
per cent illiterates, with over fifty per cent of 
illegitimate births, with a great part of its male 
population contaminated by venereal disease, is 
still the stronghold of the Roman Catholic Church, 
and through four centuries has received no true 
cleansing or light from those in authority in that 
Church. “I hate the Roman Catholic Church,” 
a man told me in Bahia, with deep bitterness in 
his voice, “because of its superstition and the 
character of its priests,” and could you wonder 
at that feeling if you had lived in Bahia and 
knew its conditions of life and the life of the 
Church that claims full moral and spiritual respon- 
sibility for its inhabitants? Bahia and Central 
Brazil need the redeeming and purifying power 
and love of Christ, and they have been cheated of 
this gift by the only Church of Christ they have 
known. 

Who that knows the facts and the need will main- 
tain that those who do know Christ and are willing 
to present Him and His gospel should not enter 
here? In Dr. Speer’s report on our South Ameri- 
can Missions, written in 1909, are these concluding 
words: “'There is much immorality in our own 
land, but much as there is, it is clean compared 


FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BAHIA 265 





with South America. Who dare deny the right 
and duty of any morally cleansing power to go in 
upon this moral need? . . . If religion has nothing 
to do with morality, then it is all well. We can 
leave South America alone. But if as we believe, 
religion is nothing but a living morality, the moral- 
ity of a true and loving fellowship with a heavenly 
Father, a righteousness alive in Christ, if true 
religion and undefiled is this, that a man should 
visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction 
and keep himself unspotted, then we are no Chris- 
tians if we do not carry such a religion to South 
America.” 


W. R. W. 


CHAPTER XI 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA BY STEAMER, 
RAIL, MOTOR, AND MULE 


Ponte Nova, Braziz, - 

May 9, 1925 
N May 5 we left Bahia for a trip of about 
250 miles to Ponte Nova, an inland station of 
our Central Brazil Mission. The journey, com- 
bining four different types of transportation, is 
typical of present-day travel in tropical Brazil, and 
those who read these letters may be interested in a 
somewhat detailed description of our experiences 

en route. 

Mrs. H.v.K. Gillmore, representing our Foreign 
Board, had preceded us, leaving Bahia on the 
twenty-first, and being accompanied by Rev. and 
Mrs. H. C. Anderson and Rev. and Mrs. Peter 
G. Baker, of Bahia. My traveling companion was 
Rey. James H. Haldane, of Pernambuco, a mem- 
ber of the United Free (Presbyterian) Church of 
Scotland, but, as that Church has no work in South 
America, at present a missionary of the Evan- 
gelical Missionary Union. 

The first part of the route to Ponte Nova is 
by water, across Bahia Bay and up the Paraguassu 
River, for 42 miles to the town of Cachoeira. The 
steamboat, of shallow draft and about eighty feet in 
length, was well laden with passengers and freight, 

266 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 267 





for it runs but three times a week and is the 
only regular means of transportation from Bahia 
up the Paraguassu. After two hours crossing the 
bay we turned up the winding river, its banks lined 
with palms and bamboos. Additional passengers 
came out in long dugout canoes and boarded our 
steamer, the paddlers performing miraculous feats 
of balancing as they stood in their narrow, unsteady 
craft that rose and fell in the wake of our boat. 
We passed several sailboats, some of them merely 
dugouts with a triangular cloth rigged to the wind; 
others, larger boats with upturned prows and 
square, many-patched sails, which looked much like 
the junks on the Yangtze, except that their sails 
were whiter and their bows lacked the staring eyes 
of the Chinese boats. 

We had left Bahia at eight, and reached Ca- 
choeira at two in the afternoon. The town has 
about 5000 inhabitants, and there Dr. Chamber- 
lain, one of the pioneers of our Church, once lived 
and worked. There is a Presbyterian church of 
about 70 members, its pastor being Rev. Manuel 
Antonia da Silva. A school with an enrollment of 
about 50 is being conducted by Senhorita Adalgiza 
Soares, a graduate of the school at Ponte Nova. 

Cachoeira, like most river towns in other coun- 
tries as well as in Brazil, has not a high moral tone, 
and our hotel was not exactly in the same class as 
the Ritz or the Bellevue-Stratford. A naked baby 
of about three years, with distended abdomen and 
scabby head, stood in the center of the dirty floor of 
the hotel and cried. A slatternly woman in un- 


268 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





speakably begrimed dress handed out meat and 
coffee to the hotel guests who sat about the dirty 
tables and smoked and talked. Other half-clothed 
children played about the room. The women 
seemed listless and without hope; the men, without 
energy or ambition or cleanliness. What hope, 
what faith in the future or in mankind, can there 
be for these women? Looked upon as creatures 
to be used and taken advantage of for the moment, 
then abandoned or betrayed, with no one to look 
to for protection and care, what must they think of 
men? And what a penalty it is to a baby to be 
born in a Cachoeira hut, so often to have no father 
and no intelligent or cleanly care! If these things 
cut us to the heart as we look upon them and think 
of those whom we love and of our own children, 
whom we should grieve to see so desolate and so 
forlorn, how must all this appear to the One who 
is the Father above, and whose children they all 
are? 

Our train did not leave until six-thirty next 
morning, so that evening we walked across the 
bridge to the town of Sao Felix and, hearing sing- 
ing, entered the Roman Catholic church where 
services were being held. ‘The month of May is 
devoted to special meetings in honor of the Virgin 
Mary, and the service we visited was one of these 
meetings. The church was fairly well filled by 
women, with a few rows of men in the back or 
standing in the doorway. ‘The little Brazilian boys 
and girls of obvious Indian and African strain, 
sang lustily, doing the best they could with unin- 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 269 





telligible Latin words. A robed priest stood be- 
fore the altar; an attendant swung a censer filled 
with burning incense, its billowing smoke rolling 
up before the gilded images and about the blazing 
candles. The scene was African or Buddhist 
rather than Christian. And yet why should not 
these poor women who were there, who knew men 
and who knew the character of too many of the 
priests, put their trust in Mary, just as the Bud- 
dhists look always to Kwan-yin, the Goddess of 
Mercy, for help and succor? ‘“ Mary, pity 
women,’ and especially the women of Cachoeira 
and Sao Felix and the cities of tropical Brazil! 

The Senhora of the hotel had promised us coffee 
at five-fifteen. We rose at five and had to rouse 
our hosts at five-thirty or depart without food. 
We crossed the river in a dugout canoe, and left 
Sao Felix by train at six-thirty. ‘The engine was 
a Baldwin of some early model, wood-burning, 
with expansive stack, the cars filled with Brazilian 
country people, with some few cattlemen and dia- 
mond prospectors of more ample means. We 
climbed out of the valley of the Paraguassu, the 
engine’s drivers slipping and whirling on the wet 
rails, and we rode over a table-land, evidently a 
cattle country, with scrub growth of trees and 
brush. At one-thirty we arrived at Paraguassu, 
formerly called Sitio Nova, 126 miles from Ca- 
choeira, our train having averaged 18 miles an hour, 
which is unusually good time for this type of loco- 
motion. 

From Paraguassu to Ponte Nova the distance is 


270 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





about 108 miles. When we alighted from the 
train, we were given a note from Mr. Anderson, 
who after escorting Mrs. Gillmore to Ponte Nova, 
had kindly come down again to meet us and was 
waiting for us at Alagoas, 28 miles from Para- 
guassu, with riding and pack mules. The inter- 
vening distance we were to cover by motor, that is, 
by Ford. 

There exists apparently, among our friends and 
others in the United States, the feeling that to go 
into the interior of South America involves one in 
certain risks. ‘The insurance companies do not 
care to write protective policies for travelers in 
the interior. ‘The danger of such journeys is 
vastly overrated, but of one aspect of it something 
may be said, that is, the excitement and real chances 
for destruction involved in riding in an automobile 
behind a Latin-American chauffeur. ‘The risk 
exists both in the city and in the country. In the 
cities there are apparently no regulations as to the 
sides of the street the traffic must follow, as to 
the passing of another car, or as to speed limit. 
Most of the streets have blind crossings, with houses 
built close to the sidewalk so that it is impossible 
for the driver on one street to see a car approaching 
from a cross street. The drivers do not try to see, 
but put on extra speed, blow their horns, and trust 
to Providence that another car will not reach the 
crossing at the same moment. Furthermore, the 
Latin American drives a car as he does a horse, al- 
ternating spur and curb. A description of a trip 
by carriage down a mountain road in Chile will 
give an inkling of our sensations in South Ameri- 


CIN ‘YD ‘IT 140d) ‘SVODVIV OL avou AHL NO 
GHL SdssVd ATAW AHL $SaILTOAOlddId NI  “MNOMS AHL, ‘VaNVD 


‘ b 


uiOLol 




















FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 271 





can motor cars: “’'The horses were fresh and ex- 
cited, and the driver could not hold them, so my 
hair stood on end as we dashed along. * Why don’t 
you have a brake on these wheels?’ I asked. 
‘ Brake, indeed!’ he replied. ‘What for? What 
use would it be? If you are smashed, you're 
smashed, and there’s the end!’ Oriental fatalism, 
I reflected, handed on, like the Oriental saddle, by 
the Moors to the Spaniards, and by Spain to 
South America.” * 

A man may drive a horse safely with one hand 
but not an automobile, and the Brazilian cannot 
adequately express himself unless he uses at least 
one hand in gesture. Most drivers wish to con- 
verse en route, and their propensity to remove one 
hand from the wheel and to use it as an aid to 
conversation does not add to the peace of mind of 
their passengers. The other three members of our 
delegation had had various automobile escapades 
on the west coast, and had had the unpleasant ex- 
perience of knocking down a boy and running over 
him, in a city in Peru. Fortunately the lad was 
not seriously hurt, but the incident did not in- 
crease their confidence in Latin American drivers 
or in their driving. 

Soon after Mr. Haldane and I boarded the Ford 
at Paraguassu for the twenty-eight-mile trip to 
Alagoas, we realized we were in for a trip of 
unusual interest. The car had a light-colored top 
and we heard later that the driver had named his 
machine, Gamba, meaning “ Skunk.” It was a 
well-chosen name, although, to be just, it applied 

1 Aconcagua and Tierra del Fuego, Sir Martin Conway, p. 303. 


272 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





more to the performance of our chauffeur than to 
the conduct of the car. After a few miles it was 
evident the driver had three dominant ideas: first, 
a Ford had the right of way over any other animal 
on the road, mule, steer, or man; second, an auto- 
mobile is built for speed; ergo, it must go fast, the 
presence or lack of highway being entirely a 
secondary matter;. third, when you go through a 
town, you must put on extra speed as a demonstra- 
tion to the populace. 

These three principles were followed faithfully 
and to their logical conclusion. A drove of mules 
were picking their way across the first large bridge 
we encountered; our chauffeur drove the “ Skunk ” 
crashing into their flank and ceased motion only 
when the milling, plunging herd prevented all 
progress. Beyond, an elderly man and his wife 
were riding up a slight grade, accompanied by the 
usual number of pack mules. The Skunk bore 
down upon them and, the senhora’s mule present- 
ing a tempting mark as it stood broadside on the 
road, car and mule collided sharply, and the lady 
was toppled from her saddle to the ground. She 
rose to lean against a tree and weep. Certainly 
this was no way for Protestants to go through a 
country, maiming mules and knocking elderly 
ladies off their mounts! We berated the driver, 
but he seemed elated rather than depressed. 

Having cleared the road of pedestrians, our 
chauffeur proceeded to show us what the Skunk 
could do in the way of speed. Now the road be- 
tween Paraguassu and Alagoas is not properly a 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 273 


road at all, but a mule trail in process of becoming 
a road. In places it is baked hard and dry, with 
great gulfs and ridges and protruding rocks; in 
other sections it 1s covered six inches deep with 
sand. Hard clay, rock, and sand, all looked alike 
to the Skunk and its scorching master. He in- 
formed us that on a preceding trip he had broken 
a spring, and after several miles we wondered why 
the casualties had been so small. Certainly the 
capacity of that car to absorb punishment without 
sustaining a mortal wound was an impressive 
tribute to the genius of its Michigan makers. 

We came to a sandy stretch. ‘Thus far the trail 
had been fairly wide, with trees at a safe distance 
on either side. But here the road narrowed and 
there appeared a row of telegraph poles, made of 
rails taken from the railroad and driven at inter- 
vals into the ground. The Skunk tried to make 
speed through the sand. Now not even a Latin 
American can make good mileage or control a car 
attempting to move rapidly on such a roadbed. 
We neared the first telegraph pole which had a 
most unresilient and Calvinistic perpendicularity. 
Our front wheels skidded to the right, and then to 
the left; we described a double parabola, and missed 
the pole by a scant six inches. We came to a town 
on top of the hill. The Skunk put on additional 
speed and we dashed through the narrow streets, 
honking wildly, and avoiding carts and individuals 
by miraculous margins. Down the hill we sped; 
at its foot, we saw more sand. Into the sand we 
went; there was a jerk, and a crash, and we turned 


274 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


at a sharp right angle and plunged directly into the 
forest. Providence saw to it that there were no 
large trees directly in our path. We crunched 
through the brush and saplings, until the Skunk 
came to a standstill some fifteen feet off the road. 

With the help of some passing muleteers, we 
extricated the car and pushed it back on to the 
path. Apparently this adventure and the earnest 
words we addressed to the driver had their effect, 
and we proceeded thenceforth with less accelera- 
tion, and about five o’clock, after three hours on the 
way, we arrived in Alagoas. 

For anyone who has driven a car, riding in the 
back seat of an automobile behind an incompetent 
and senseless driver is a most fatiguing experience, 
and we were glad to see the mules waiting at 
Alagoas to take us the remainder of the way to 
Ponte Nova. 


On TRAIN FROM Paracauassu TO CACHOEIRA, 
May 21, 1925 


Distance in Central Bahia in tropical Brazil is 
measured by leagues rather than by kilometers or 
miles. A league is reckoned to be approximately 
six kilometers or four miles. In reality it is the 
distance a lightly laden mule or horse will cover in 
one hour. From Alagoas, where we left the Ford 
and mounted mules, to Ponte Nova, it is said to be 
20 leagues or approximately 80 miles. It was five 
o'clock when we arrived in Alagoas; the moon that 
night would be nearly full, and we voted to repack, 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 275 





to have our supper, and to go on that evening in 
the moonlight. At seven-twenty we left Alagoas, 
our train of fourteen mules and horses, including 
pack animals and extra mounts, making a pictur- 
esque cavalcade as we rode along the winding path- 
way, the mules moving noiselessly on the soft dirt, 
the moonlight filtering through the palms and the 
giant trees of the tropics, hung by waving moss 
and tangled creepers that threw grotesque shadows 
across the trail. For four hours we rode until we 
reached Flores, 16 miles away, and there put up 
for the night in the little house owned by the 
Mission and used as a shelter for members of the 
Mission and for friends and travelers like our- 
selves. 

The next two days we spent in the saddle. 
Tropical Brazil is still in the equestrian age. 
Everyone rides. We moved in a world whose 
transportation, livelihood, customs, and atmosphere 
were expressed in terms of the mule or horse. It 
is a world in which Chaucer would have felt very 
much at home, and the appearance on the trail of 
the Canterbury Pilgrims would not arouse much 
comment or surprise. 

There is a railroad from Cachoeira, about 150 
miles in length, but at present it passes 60 miles 
from Lencoes, which is 36 miles from Ponte Nova. 
Everything is brought into Ponte Nova on mule 
back or on a two-wheeled oxcart. ‘There is not a 
piano in Ponte Nova, for a piano cannot be loaded 
onamule or acart. So the senhoritas of a musical 
turn devote themselves to portable organs. Cloth- 


276 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





ing and food are packed into small trunks that a 
mule can carry. We passed mule trains loaded 
with tobacco, salt, kerosene, farina, flour, and 
furniture. One of the missionaries at Ponte Nova 
had brought in a four-wheeled wagon, like those 
used in the North, but his experiences on the way 
were not those which would encourage a repetition 
of the experiment. In due time better roads and 
more modern equipages will invade central Bahia, 
but for the present the mule and horse and the 
four-team oxcart, with two solid wooden wheels 
that revolve with their axles and send forth grind- 
ing and shuddering shrieks, hold sway in this part 
of tropical Brazil. 

Many of the figures and much of the life along 
the trail are most picturesque. Nearly all the men 
wear round leather hats, with wide brims and two 
leather thongs knotted in the back, like the head- 
gear worn by the pirates and buccaneers who 
haunted these seacoasts and the Spanish Main. 
The cowboys, or vaqueros, wear dark leather shirts 
and tight-fitting leather leggings. One group we 
saw had come with their cattle from the inland 
state of Goyaz for over a thousand miles, having 
been on the road for six months. ‘There were nine- 
teen of these cowboys, their leader a tall, well- 
proportioned Brazilian, with dark, handsome fea- 
tures of a distinctly Spanish type, whose grace in 
the saddle and charm of manner and smile gave 
him unusual distinction. We came upon a 
betrothal group, a party of about twenty, the bride 
to be and her sister profusely powdered and dressed 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 277 





for the occasion, riding sidesaddle, with long habits 
like those worn three centuries ago; the prospective 
groom in a new suit and new sombrero; the father- 
in-law and mother-in-law on their horses with a 
child perched up behind each; a group of vaqueros 
and friends, all mounted, making a joyful and 


boisterous escort. 
Bauia City, 
May 23, 1925 


On our way to Ponte Nova on the evening of 
May 6 we covered 16 miles from Paraguassu to 
Flores. Next morning we joined in a hymn and 
Scripture-reading and prayer with a little group of 
believers. Mr. Anderson, as a representative of 
the Mission, had various errands to perform and 
purchases to make, and it was ten-thirty before we 
left Ruy Barbosa, formerly called Orobo, a half 
hour beyond Flores, for the second stage of our 
journey. We rode for nearly three hours, and 
after a stop to rest the animals and to have 
luncheon, started again and rode for six hours, the 
last two hours in the moonlight, until, at nine 
o'clock, we reached Pedrinhas, “ little rocks,” eight 
and one half leagues or about 34 miles from Flores. 
That night was unexpectedly cold and we shivered 
beneath our single blankets on our portable cots, 
despite the fact that we were but thirteen degrees 
south of the Equator. 

We had been ascending the valley of the Sara 
Cura River, which we crossed that day, by actual 
count, eighty-six times. But it was the end of the 
dry season: the stream bed was dry and the only 


278 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





water beyond Flores was contained in pits or arti- 
ficial ponds. Some of it was of the same nature as 
that described in Kipling’s “ Gungha Din,” water 
which even the mules would not touch, so we carried 
drinking water in canteens from Flores clear 
through to Ponte Nova. 

The road had led through an upland cattle coun- 
try, through extensive fazendas where there was 
less of typical tropical foliage and more of the 
rough serub and brush associated with our own 
Southwest. The country seemed the more harsh 
and rough because of the long dry season. We 
came upon skeletons of cattle that had died on 
the road: buzzards soared above them, or waited 
in gruesome, silent groups for the exploration of 
some steer that had fallen on the trail. We saw 
the skins of cougar, lynx, leopard, and deer hung 
in the doorways of the stores in some of the ham- 
lets through which we passed. Every possession 
of the houses was primitive and spoke of the 
frontier. 

At Pedrinhas, where we had another simple 
service before starting on the day’s journey, we 
were 1,700 feet above sea level, according to the 
aneroid which I had carried throughout the trip 
and the needle of which I had watched soar from 
sea level to over 10,500 feet as we crossed the 
Andes; at Uruguayana, where we stopped for 
lunch on May 8, the altitude was 2,400 feet. 
There we crossed the divide, and saw far ahead of 
us the purple, wooded hills beyond the Utinga 
Valley, where lay Ponte Nova, and farther away 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 279 





on the horizon the higher crags and buttes of the 
Bonito Mountains and the Lencoes Range. We 
passed the last fazenda, and rode through uncleared 
forest land, the tangled caatinga and matto meeting 
overhead and interlaced with vines and creepers 
and thorn-bearing undergrowth. It would have 
been an arduous task for any man to force his way 
through that forest, a task that would have been 
made even more painful because of the presence 
of myriads of stinging ants, whose dark hornet-like 
homes hung on so many trees, and because of the 
carapatos and other voracious insects that infest 
such woods. 

At five o’clock we crossed the dark waters of the 
Utinga, that looked cool and refreshing after the 
thirsty trail of the past two days, and we rode up 
the valley through the deepening dusk until, after 
an hour, we came out upon the hospitable clearing 
of the Ponte Nova fazenda. We had covered 
seven and one half leagues, or thirty miles, that day, 
thirty-four miles the preceding day, and sixteen 
miles on the first evening, so that our time for the 
eighty miles was a little less than two days, or to 
be exact, just forty-seven hours. Including the 
three hours in the Ford, and the two hours spent at 
Alagoas, we had come from Paraguassu, 108 miles, 
in fifty-two hours, and from Bahia to Ponte Nova 
in four days, thereby establishing a new record for 
the trip. 

The work at Ponte Nova and the Mission meet- 
ing there will be the subject of a later chapter. I 
will close this letter with a sketch of our return trip 


280 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





to Bahia and a summary of our general impressions 
on the road. 

We left Ponte Nova Saturday morning, May 16, 
our party consisting this time of Mrs. Gillmore, 
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, Mr. 
Haldane, Annie Reese, the eight-year-old daughter 
of Rev. and Mrs. Alexander Reese, stationed at 
Ponte Nova, and myself. We had an enormous 
train of mules and horses, totaling thirty in all. 
The first day we covered seven and one half 
leagues, or 30 miles, to Pedrinhas; there we spent 
Sunday, with a service in Portuguese for the be- 
levers of that district and one in English for our- 
selves. Monday we went through to Quati, five 
and one half leagues, or 22 miles: and Tuesday, 
through to Alagoas, seven leagues, or 28 miles. 
Wednesday we took our former car and another 
Ford to Paraguassu. The Skunk appeared with 
one of the two radius rods extending to the front 
axle smashed and repaired with three limbs and 
wire. We placed the Skunk behind the other Ford 
which was driven by a man of some discretion and 
self-control, and, after a thorough exhortation to 
our own driver on modern methods of motor man- 
agement, we made the journey without mishap, 
save that the Skunk could not resist bunting twice 
into the other car, once side swiping it and the 
second time ramming it with unexpected force. 

At Paraguassu, where we had some extra time 
before the departure of the train, the men of our 
party went for a swim in the Paraguassu River. 
We were accompanied to the river bank by a 


‘(ose “d) soyeg °9 ‘d ‘SAA “9PPOUM “UM OURPleH “Hf 
‘IsoayYITUUY ‘XOUT[ED “Y “A “HE ‘SAP SUOSTOpuYy ‘say ‘UOSLOpUY “OD “EE — yYSsIY 0} Yo] 


GdvOd VAON WLINOd WHEL NO NIVUL HIOAW YOO 











FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 281 


French engineer in the service of the railroad, 
formerly a captain in the French aviation service, 
and a holder of several medals for distinguished 
service in the Great War. The captain did not go 
into the river, which was running bank full as a 
result of recent rains farther up the valley. Later 
he explained that he had not joined us because, just 
a short time before, three employees of the railroad 
who had swum in similar flood water, had been at- 
tacked by some large pythons which had been 
washed down by the river, and that the three men 
had been devoured by these snakes! 

We treated the remarks of the engineer rather 
lightly until further investigation revealed the fact 
that in that same locality, near Paraguassu, Dr. 
Waddell had assisted in the capture of a python 
which measured forty-two feet in length, the snake 
being sent alive to the London Zoo. A python had 
also been killed at Cachoeira some years before, 
which had attacked and devoured several dusky 
residents of that town as they crossed the river 
where it was in hiding. Dr. Waddell told us also 
of incidents in which his children and two jarara- 
cas, the most deadly poisonous of Brazilian snakes, 
were involved. 

At Ponte Nova, when the rainy season first 
begins, a multitude of small frogs and toads usually 
appear. The children, with the usual young- 
sters’ fondness for peripatetic reptiles, enjoyed 
their presence. One day Dr. Waddell saw his 
young son, about four years of age, stooping over, 
apparently trying to coax a small frog or a toad 


282 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





out of its hole. Repeatedly he tried to grasp its 
head between his thumb and forefinger, saying, 
‘Come out, toady! Come out, toady!”” Dr. Wad- 
dell walked over to inspect the scene more closely, 
and saw that what his son was trying to pull out 
by its head was not a frog or a toad but was really 
a jararaca; that the hole was so shallow the snake 
could not retreat farther, and so narrow that it 
could not open its jaws to grasp the baby’s fingers, 
which were pinching and slipping off its scaly 
head and jaws! 

At another time, one of the Waddell children 
was sleeping with his hand open and above his head 
and a jararaca came crawling through the window 
and over his hand. The child felt the snake on his 
palm, and awakening suddenly, closed his hand, 
held tight, and screamed. Luckily his fingers had 
closed around the snake just back of its head so it 
could not turn and bite him, and help soon ar- 
rived. 

Such incidents were exceptional, however, and 
except for carrying snake-bite antidotes on all their 
itinerating trips, the missionaries pay small heed to 
the possibility of such reptilian adventures. 

The trip by train from Paraguassu to Cachoeira 
on Thursday was delayed by the derailment of one 
of the cars. Part of Thursday night was spent 
in our former hotel at Cachoeira, which had ac- 
quired no additional charms during our absence. 
We held a service in the church in the evening, 
where several members recalled Dr. Speer’s visit 
sixteen years ago; and at two-thirty in the morn- 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 283 





ing we boarded the river steamer for Bahia. It 
was rainy and the wind was gusty; about eight 
o'clock we reached the open bay where the boat 
went through an extraordinary series of gym- 
nastics. Missionaries and business veterans one by 
one succumbed to the increasing oscillation of our 
flat-bottomed craft; it was with some difficulty that 
the two members of the Board’s delegation retained 
their wonted composure, though they managed to 
come through eventually with clear dockets. 
Throughout the entire trip to and from Ponte 
Nova, Mrs. Gillmore had lived up to the military 
traditions of her family. On the journey to Ponte 
Nova, her party had not had the advantage of 
travel part of the way by Ford: consequently she 
rode the full 108 miles on mule back; this distance, 
with that traveled on our return trip, totaling 188 
miles, no mean total for any woman, not accus- 
tomed to the tropics, to cover in eight days. Fur- 
ther, two days before we left Ponte Nova and on 
the first night we spent on the road, she had attacks 
of the malarial fever of Brazil, the malignant foe of 
many a traveler in the tropical interior. She en- 
dured the discomfort and the dirt of the nights in 
the country homes along the trail, and the final 
extra strain of the unspeakable quarters at Ca- 
choeira and the weird trip by night and early morn- 
ing in the unstable boat down the river and across 
the bay, in the best West Point manner. I am 
sure that her colleagues in New York should be 
proud of the way she came through this grueling 
schedule with such flying colors, and I think the 


284 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Board is to be congratulated on having such a 
representative in Central Brazil. 

Bahia seemed modern and clean and the acme of 
civilization after the five hundred miles traveled in 
the interior, and we were glad to enter the hospit- 
able doors of the Mission house, situated on a hill- 
side some distance from the city, overlooking grace- 
ful palms and the distant sea. 

In reviewing the experiences on the road to and 
from Ponte Nova three impressions are especially 
vivid and strong: First, the comparatively high and 
dependable character of the country people, as seen 
against the background of the life and moral 
standard of the people of a similar class in the 
cities. ‘These country folks are of comparatively 
good stock, and are good soil for the sowing of the 
gospel seed. Cavalheiro is the Portuguese term 
for gentleman; our own word, “ cavalier,” connotes 
a horseman. The people of Central Bahia are 
poor and their mounts are lowly, but they have 
something of the air of the cavalier, as they ride 
over their rough, narrow trails, saluting each other 
with a lift of the hat, and holding themselves erect 
on their mulas and burros. In their greetings and 
good-bys, in their “ bon dias” and “ adeus,” there 
is an air of self-respecting and courteous independ- 
ence, a spirit that rises above poverty and lowly 
condition, in short, the gesture of a gentleman, and 
we were glad that after some acquaintance with the 
city life of Brazil, we could have this insight into 
the more wholesome and simple life and mores of 
the country folk of the land. 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 285 


Further, no one can go over the Ponte Nova 
trail with the missionaries and not admire their 
courage and uncomplaining endurance of hardship. 
Kspecially is such meed of admiration due to the 
missionary wives. The physical exertion of riding 
80 or 100 miles in three or four or five days is 
sufficient test of the strength of almost any Ameri- 
can woman, but the more trying aspects of 
the journey are the dirt and the odoriferousness 
and the insect life of the houses along the road 
where they spend the nights. Chickens and tur- 
keys amble through the rooms; black pigs — 
mother pigs and litters of little pigs — sleep under 
one’s window or join in a porcine symphony in the 
night hours. The people crowd about the for- 
elgners, watching them as they eat and staying 
always near by. Continually there is the con- 
sciousness that fully sixty per cent of these people, 
despite the comparatively higher moral tone of life 
in the country, are infected with communicable 
disease. All honor to the missionaries who itiner- 
ate on these roads, who, undismayed by hardship 
or dirt or disease, patiently and faithfully carry the 
light of the gospel into the dark places of this land! 
All honor to the older missionaries, veterans of the 
trail, who so deftly and quietly make their camps, 
and in providing their own daily bread, forget not 
to offer “ the bread of life ”’ to those who will accept 
it; to the young missionaries, eager and ready to 
give of themselves to this new service, fresh from 
the cleanliness and sweetness that, despite its many 
failings, are still characteristics of our own North 


286 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


American life: new recruits upon whom the squalor 
and dirt and misery of these tropical communities 
burst with almost overwhelming force! And a 
blessing upon the children of the missionaries, who, 
like little Annie Reese, on our journey to Bahia, 
accept without question the surroundings and 
limitations of their lives, often with no other Ameri- 
can children for playmates, self-sufficient and 
bravely happy, bouncing along on the hard-gaited 
mule, singing and glad and full of the spirit of 
simplicity and trustfulness and joy that Jesus said 
is akin to the spirit of the Kingdom of heaven! 
Finally, there is the inspiration of the fidelity 
and courage of the “ Crentes,’ the believers, who 
live along the Ponte Nova road. In many ways, 
they must resemble the Christians of the first and 
second centuries. Like those early Christians, they 
live surrounded by hostile and unfriendly com- 
munities, communities from which they may ex- 
pect persecution and ostracism; like the early 
Christians, their light shines in the midst of a 
great and almost overpowering darkness. ‘There 
is something of pathos in the warmth of greeting 
and in the eagerness with which one little group 
of Crentes welcomes another, and the reluctance 
with which they say farewell. It is a long and 
lonely trail that the Protestant must follow in 
the Roman Catholic tropics of Brazil. But 
along that trail, if one has eyes to see, is appar- 
ent the springing up of seed sown in prayer and 
faith years ago. Here is a man who heard Dr. 
Chamberlain preach and knew at once that there 


FROM BAHIA TO PONTE NOVA 287 





was the true word about the relation between man 
and God; in this lowly home, a single evangelist 
had left a portion of the New Testament that had 
brought the whole family into the new and better 
Way. All along this winding road the fires of the 
new faith are burning, in some places flickering and 
falling low, in others, shining brightly and rising 
into a steady flame of faith and hope and love, 
undying fires that, in spite of obstacles and impedi- 
ments and the stifling atmosphere of superstition 
and evil, will bring the warmth and power and 
light of Christ to bear upon the deepest needs of 
Brazil. 


W. R. W. 


CHAPTER XII 
MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES 


Ponte Nova, Brazit, 

May 9, 1925 
AIL comes and goes with delightful irregu- 
larity and uncertainty in Ponte Nova, but I 
want to send you a final letter even if I reach New 
York before it. ‘The deputation traveled together 
as far as Rio; there Dr. McGregor and Miss Reid 
went on, on the American Legion, to New York 
and I transshipped to a Dutch boat, the Zeelandia. 
Ten o'clock on the evening of the second day found 
us anchored off the city of San Salvador, usually 
called Bahia, where we were duly inspected by the 
doctor from the port and the chief of police. Then 

confusion reigned. 

Mr. Harold C. Anderson, our missionary sta- 
tioned in Bahia, came aboard, leaving Mr. Baker 
to manage having the launch brought to the gang- 
way. ‘There was confusion about passports, then 
about baggage, still more with passengers coming 
on at the same time others were going off. But Mr. 
Anderson stood firm at the elbow of the distracted 
official, and finally we reached the launch by walking 
across one nearer at hand and in ten minutes were 
ashore. We made our way among pushing and 
shouting taxi drivers to the Ford and at midnight 
reached the Mission house. The road after we 

288 


MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES 289 





passed through the city left much to be desired but 
it seemed only a continuation of the pitching and 
tossing of the steamer; and it was pleasant to be 
once more in a comfortable American home. 

Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Baker, who came out after 
the June conference of 1924, are staying with the 
Andersons until they have completed a year of lan- 
guage study. They are studying with the son and 
daughter of a judge in Bahia, whom they met on the 
steamer, and are making fine progress. We had 
heard that one does not see Brazil until one sees 
Bahia, so the three days spent there were full of 
interest. Brooklyn is called the city of churches 
and baby carriages, but Brooklyn is not in the 
running with Bahia. There is a different church 
for every day in the year, 365 churches, great struc- 
tures with adjoining piles of monasteries and 
schools. Each order that came out from Portugal 
built an edifice to rival the preceding order and the 
city is literally clogged with them. 

The city was settled first by the Portuguese in 
1520. Slaves were brought from Africa, and Bahia 
soon became the slave market for South America. 
The population is now a mixture of Portuguese, 
Indian, and Negro, with over ninety per cent Ne- 
gro. There are about 100 English, 50 North 
Americans, and 50 Germans. There is also a lesser 
number from several other countries. ‘The Presby- 
terian Church is well established but has been going 
through throes, having been without a_ pastor 
several times, which impaired its usefulness. Now 
there is the prospect of having a fine young Brazil- 


290 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


ian from Recife, and the church should take on a 
new lease of life. The Sunday school is conducted 
by Mr. Walter Donald, a Scotch business man. 
Mr. Anderson preached at the eleven o’clock serv- 
ice Sunday morning, and he and I united our 
efforts at the evening service before the usual 
courteous and attentive audience. 

We left Bahia for Ponte Nova on the twenty- 
first, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, 
and I, on a little steamer that crosses the bay and 
turns up the Paraguassu river. It was a beautiful 
ride on quite a comfortable boat. We stopped 
several times to send off passengers in boats made 
of hollowed-out logs, very tippy and narrow, and 
reached Cachoeira in the afternoon. The hotel 
was near the pier, the best hotel in the town, pain- 
fully dirty in spite of the fact that word had been 
sent that we were coming and the rooms had been 
prepared for us. But each room had a balcony 
facing the square, which was quite lovely with its 
tropical vegetation, so we could hang over the bal- 
cony and look at that, but the romance was some- 
what marred by having to throw our wash water 
over the same balcony, and if any of you have ever 
had to clean your teeth over a balcony you know 
how difficult it is to do it thoroughly and avoid the 
pedestrians underneath. 

We crossed the river the next morning in one 
of the tippy log boats and took the train for Sitio 
Nova where we arrived that afternoon. A line 
of soldiers was drawn up on the platform, for there 
is still unrest in these out-of-the-way places. 


*(06¢ ‘d) ., syeoq Soy Addy ay} Jo ouo UT * * * ABATL BY} PISSOID OM ,, 


VUIGOHOVO LV YUAAINM ASSVODVUVd AHL YNISSOUD 























af 








a OOLN 4f 
oF 
je a) é 


oe eee 
Lisi aia Cie 


e 





4 


ty 


iter ip 
ete 
Y 


Pat 


rstess 


4 








MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES 291 





Eiverywhere were dogs and pigs and mules and 
chickens. Sitio Nova is the railroad center for 
discharging freight from the interior and there 
were piles of bags of cotton, tobacco, and farina 
about, and the pack mules that brought in the 
cargo. If the first hotel we stayed at was doubt- 
ful, this one was impossible, but we had brought 
along army cots and bedding and by keeping in 
the middle of the room and not touching anything 
and eating the food we had brought, we managed 
without too much discomfort to pass the night. 
We could not have the windows open for they 
opened on the street and anything might come in, 
but there was good ventilation through the walls 
and roof and a merry-looking star taught a lesson 
of cheer and rising above one’s surroundings. 

The next morning the exciting part of the trip 
began. Nineteen mules and three camaradas were 
waiting for us. Eight mules were used for 
mounts, seven were loaded with the cargo, and the 
remainder accompanied the train as a reserve. It 
was a long cavaleade and an amusing one. For 
three of us it was our first experience on a mule, and 
I for one thought of the trip with some trepidation. 
I had been warned that if a mule is annoyed with 
his mount, he suddenly turns to one side while 
going at a smart pace, and his mount goes on, 
landing quite often on the top of her head; so I 
piled my hair on top of my head to act as a cushion 
and prepared for the worst. My mule was named 
Jacaré, which means in Portuguese “ alligator.” 
He had an easy swinging walk and an easier pace 


292 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





but his trot was execrable. I had always heard 
that mules were sure-footed and should be given 
freedom of rein to choose their own path, so I did 
not presume to direct his steps except as to speed. 
He required the reminder of both spur and whip to 
make our stopping places at the appointed time, 
but in every other respect he had his own way. He 
preferred the high places and took all the ridges 
of the road no matter how narrow. When we went 
down hills so steep they were almost like walls he 
would wander over the countryside through the 
bushes until he found a convenient grade. Once 
when we came to a particularly steep, slippery hill 
Jacaré headed for the bushes. Mr. Anderson 
called out, “ Hey, where are you going?” but he 
received no answer for I did not know and Jacaré 
was in one of his independent moods and paid no 
attention. But in a short time we came back on 
the trail ahead of the other mules who were still 
slipping and sliding down the hill. We forded one 
river eighty-six times, sometimes only the sandy 
bed and many times through water. Jacaré re- 
fused to follow the other mules but found a place 
he liked better and I could only hope he knew how 
deep it was. Sometimes he stopped with the others 
to drink, but often he would pursue the even tenor 
of his way and I never stopped him when he felt 
inclined to go, so we wandered on out of sight of 
the others, I hoping that no snakes thirty feet long 
would notice my unprotected state. On one of 
these solitary expeditions I saw what I firmly be- 
lieve to be a black parrot. When the other mem- 


MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES 293 





bers of the party joined me and I told them of the 
wonderful discovery, Mr. Anderson said that the 
River of Doubt had been authenticated but he had 
no hope for my black parrot. Associating for five 
days with a mule may have given me a new trait or 
accentuated an old one for [ still think it was a 
black parrot. 

We stopped for lunch and for the night at some 
solitary house along the way where the hospitable 
owners always welcomed us and gave us their best. 
We had our own beds and food but were glad to 
have fresh eggs and milk, although the latter al- 
ways had to be boiled. For our lunches we tried 
to keep out in the open and ate in the shed where 
the sugar or the farina was manufactured. 'The 
drawback to this was the audience of dogs and pigs 
and children, and in one place an inquisitive mar- 
moset, but the air was fresh and the further sur- 
roundings lovely, for it is a beautiful stretch of 
country we came through. We saw myriads of 
brilliantly colored birds and luxuriant tropical 
vegetation, and a most lovely sky. 

The nights would have been a trial if we had 
not been very tired at the close of a day in the 
saddle. In two of the places we reached at night- 
fall the owners were no longer living and the place 
was inhabited by a cowboy and his family. They 
were very kind in every way but our quarters can- 
not be appreciated until seen. In one house my 
room, which was perhaps a trifle the best of the 
three, was the room where farina was stored, and 
the only article of furniture was a huge bin, which 


294 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





served as a washstand, dresser, clothes rack, and 
chair. There was one door leading to the hall 
which did not lock, so I pushed my trunk in front 
of that, and another door that was locked on the 
inside, and was the only exit of a mysterious room, 
so I pushed my bed in front of that so if anyone 
came out in the night I should at least know it. I 
remembered hearing that these country people for 
want of a better place kept a defective relative in 
just such a place. But notions have no place when 
one is riding 108 miles and sleep always quieted 
any fear. We passed one tarantula on the road, 
so large that Mr. Baker’s horse shied at it as it 
walked slowly across our path. It was the size of 
a man’s hand, and black and hairy. 

Every day brought a new experience and new 
sights so the trip was full of interest, but when Mr. 
Anderson announced that we were within a league 
of Ponte Nova, I for one was ready for the haven 
of a missionary’s home. Soon we saw a cavalcade 
coming out to meet us, and were welcomed by Mrs. 
Wood, Miss Hepperle, little Annie Reese, and a 
boy from the school. I was assigned to Dr. 
Wood’s home, and never did a house seem more 
clean and comfortable and restful. 

It would be difficult, I think, to find a more 
romantic story than that of Ponte Nova; that story 
is told, however, later, and I will not try to give 
it here, but I do want to speak of the work of Dr. 
Wood, who came to Ponte Nova in 1916. A trip 
from Bahia is a triumphal procession for him. 
On the first day of our trip, on the boat was a 


MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES) 295 





man who was bringing his wife to Dr. Wood for 
treatment. She had been to all the leading doctors 
in Bahia and was now going 250 miles as a last 
hope. After two painful nights in hotels we 
reached Itaberaba and went to a nice-looking house 
on the square, the home of Colonel Hilariao. He 
received us most cordially, and when we protested 
that five of us were too many for him to take in for 
the night, he replied that nothing was too much to 
do for friends of Dr. Wood. Had not Dr. Wood 
twice saved his daughter’s life when she had been 
given up by other physicians? And there was the 
smiling daughter coming to welcome us and then 
going off to superintend the preparation of a dinner 
that reminded one of a Thanksgiving Day feast; 
the table fairly groaned with food — sundried meat, 
turtle, breadfruit, manioe, and other delicious 
native dishes. We spent the night there and after 
breakfast had prayers: this in a Catholic home that 
would never have opened its doors to Protestants 
if gratitude had not overcome prejudice. 

We overtook two parties going to consult Dr. 
Wood, one on mules and one afoot, the latter group 
walking the 86 miles because hope gave them 
strength. All along the way Mr. Anderson 
pointed out houses where people lived, or the people 
themselves, who had been cured. The places where 
we stopped for the night were often the homes of 
his patients. For miles in every direction the 
people adore him. They consider him a miracle 
worker, for he makes the lame to walk, the blind to 
see, and the dumb to speak. I think Dr. Wood 


296 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





would be the first one to say that he could not 
accomplish so much as he does if it were not for 
Mrs. Wood’s help — she is indefatigable. 

Ponte Nova is greatly in need of more buildings 
and more workers. More money is needed for the 
hospital and its equipment. It would be a wonder- 
ful station for some church at home to take over. 
Dr. McGregor’s church has been supporting Dr. 
Wood. 

A little of my enthusiasm for this place is caused 
by the fact that I have not seen a snake yet. Dr. 
Waddell told me the most fearsome stories about 
snakes until I expected to see a flock of them, or 
whatever a quantity of them is called, every time 
I went out of the house. Several have been seen 
and some killed since we have been here. The 
people who live here apparently have no dread of 
them. Mrs. Wood told me casually that one day 
she found one on her dressing table and her hus- 
band killed it with her hairbrush. Acting under 
advice, I always take the precaution of looking in 
my shoes before I put them on in the morning, for 
snakes like to sleep in shoes. The constant expec- 
tation of meeting a snake makes me have quite a 
friendly feeling for the bats and lizards about my 
room — they are so mild in comparison. 

Mr. Reese the other evening was much enter- 
tained with watching a toad beneath the lamp on 
his desk catching insects with deadly accuracy. 
The toads here are about four times the size of 
those we have at home — huge things. ‘This was a 
smaller one, and after a while Mr. Reese became 


MULES, MOUNTAINS, AND MIRACLES. 297 





absorbed in his work and forgot the toad — until 
he was in bed and was waked in the middle of the 
night to find the toad sitting on his head. It 
would be about the last thing anyone would want 
to have sit on his head, I should think. But I 
never saw such people as missionaries are. They 
are never afraid of anything, or find anything too 
much trouble to do, or mind making any sacrifice, 
or ever acknowledge that they are tired; and they 
would give you the clothes off their backs. ‘They 
make other people’s chance of heaven seem remote. 


AL CTD Ce 


CHAPTER XIII 


PONTE NOVA AND THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT 
MISSION IN TROPICAL BRAZIL 


Baus, BrazZit, 
May 27, 1925 


HE work of the Presbyterian Mission center- 

ing about Ponte Nova is marked by courage 
and common sense, consecrated to the service of 
Christ and Brazil. 

The work in Ponte Nova was commenced in 
1906 by Rev. and Mrs. W. A. Waddell, when, to 
quote Dr. Waddell’s own statement, “ for a man to 
go to live in Central Bahia was considered to be 
treason to his wife and children.” At Ponte Nova 
on the Utinga River, 250 miles from the seacoast, 
Dr. Waddell bought a fazenda, or ranch, of about 
4,500 acres and opened a school for boys and girls. 
The purpose of the undertaking, as stated by Dr. 
Speer in his report written after his visit to Ponte 
Nova in 1909, was “to make this an industrial, 
self-supporting training school, to take the boys and 
girls of the interior churches who would profit by 
some additional training, to prepare the better 
girls to be teachers of village and ranch schools, to 
select the best young men and send them on into 
the ministry, and send back the other boys and 
girls to their own homes not disqualified for their 
old life, but fitted to be good farmers and good 

298 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 299 


mothers and housekeepers.” Dr. Speer went on 
to say: “The plan is sensible and the facilities 
appear to be excellent. Eiveryone who knew of 
this school enterprise commended it.” 

For a single family to go into central Bahia to 
live, twenty years ago, took courage, and the Mis- 
sion and Church owe much to the fortitude and 
foresight of Dr. and Mrs. Waddell in planning and 
carrying out this pioneer project in tropical Brazil. 
Often Dr. Waddell had to be away on itinerating 
journeys, and he has told us how his enemies of the 
Roman Catholic faith would bring reports to him 
that his wife or his children were ill or that one of 
them had died, just as they brought similar false 
tales of disaster concerning him to his wife left 
alone at the Ponte Nova ranch. Of the loneliness 
of that Station, Dr. Speer wrote in 1909, “ One’s 
heart goes out to only one family far off in this 
lonely valley, lonely enough by day, and where the 
night silence is so deep that one almost longed to 
hear Dr. Waddell’s pythons roaring like young 
bulls.” 

We visited Ponte Nova sixteen years after Dr. 
Speer was there and nineteen years after the in- 
ception of the work. The advance and the growth 
in the service of the Station during these years are 
most impressive. In 1909 its equipment consisted 
of a one-story ranch house which served as a dor- 
mitory for the girl students and a residence for the 
missionary director and his family; a schoolhouse 
building, little more than a rough shed; and on the 
other side of the river a simple and unpretentious 


300 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





dormitory for the boys. When we rode out into 
the clearing on May 8, 1925, instead of these three 
buildings we saw sixteen, ranged on both sides of 
the river: first, a small building that had served for 
a hospital since 1917, when Dr. W. Welcome Wood 
opened pioneer medical work in the interior at 
Ponte Nova; beyond this temporary building, the 
walls and the frame of a new hospital under con- 
struction, that will have twenty-five beds and will 
be one of the most modern buildings in the interior; 
a consultorium, or consultation hall and dispensary, 
well-built and modern in appearance; a house for 
the pharmacist; a moderate-sized hotel that has 
been built to accommodate the increasing number 
of those who come to Ponte Nova for consultation 
and treatment; Dr. Wood’s home and a residence 
for another missionary family, now occupied by 
Rev. and Mrs. F. EK. Johnson, Mr. Johnson at 
present overseeing the construction of the hospital, 
his main responsibility at other times being evan- 
gelistic itineration in the Lavras field; an attrac- 
tive chapel where students and villagers can join in 
worship; a building for the primary day school for 
the children of the vicinity, and the old dormitory 
for the boys in the boarding school; at the river, a 
sugar mill, with power provided by an undershot 
waterwheel, built by Rev. C. E. Bixler, who, when 
Dr. Waddell left Ponte Nova in 1914 to become 
the president of Mackenzie College, came to the 
Station and has been indefatigable in building up 
the work of the school and the ranch; across the 
river, the ranch house, now grown into a building 





DR. W. W. WOOD AND MRS. GILLMORE IN THE 
CORRIDOR OF THE NEW HOSPITAL 
“ Dr. Wood is regarded as a miracle worker ” (p. 302). 











THE NEW HOSPITAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT PONTE NOVA 
The mound in the foreground is an ant hill (p. 300). 





* 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 301 


of two stories, where Rev. and Mrs. Alexander 
Reese now live, and where over thirty girls are 
accommodated, double-decker beds having been 
installed because of their number and the lack of 
space; the old building, formerly used as recitation 
hall for the school, now a workmen’s shed; a tool 
house; and adjoining it a similar small house of 
two rooms now being used by Mr. and Mrs. Irvine 
S. Graham, the present manager of the fazenda 
and director and directora of the school; and finally 
a building which serves as recitation hall and chapel 
for the students of the school. 

These are but the material evidences of the 
growth of the work at Ponte Nova. ‘The effects 
of that service in the relief of human suffering, in 
the spread of truth and light, and in the redeem- 
ing of spirits weighed down by evil and sorrow 
cannot adequately be computed. The number of 
those whose lives have been touched and influenced 
can be given approximately, but mathematics is a 
poor instrument for measuring the things of the 
spirit. With the inadequate equipment of the old 
hospital and dispensary, during the year 1924, Dr. 
and Mrs. Wood and Miss Hepperle, the trained 
nurse who has just joined the staff, reported treat- 
ing a total of 14,753 patients, performing 250 
operations, the largest total of patients cared for 
in one day being 92, and in one month, 1,886. The 
primary school registers 58 pupils and the second- 
ary school 46, 50 students being boarders; and in 
addition there are various schools scattered through- 
out the state which are taught by Ponte Nova grad- 


302 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





uates and are loosely affiliated with the parent 
school. Of the 4,500 acres of the fazenda, 500 
acres are in pasture and about 60 under cultivation; 
there are on the ranch 100 head of cattle and about 
50 horses and mules. 

Dr. Wood is regarded as a miracle worker; when 
these simple country people see a woman who has 
been totally blind and who has come to the hospital 
led by a small boy return to her home, walking 
alone and with vision restored, the cataracts having 
been removed from her eyes, or a young man who 
was rendered speechless by a peculiar tropical 
disease made able to speak again, they believe that 
the Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before their 
very eyes when they behold “ the dumb speaking... 
and the blind seeing,” and they honor Dr. Wood 
and his associates accordingly. iverywhere along 
the road from Cachoeira, people spoke of this medi- 
cal work; a mayor of one town requested us to ask 
Dr. Wood to come to his home to operate on his 
daughter, and to bring with him his ferramentas, 
using a Portuguese term that signifies “ imple- 
ments,” such as axes, saws, hoes, et cetera. ‘The 
cowboy we met, who had come a thousand miles on 
the trail from Goyaz, had heard of Dr. Wood and 
of Ponte Nova; and all through the state of Bahia 
the unique combination of educational, agricul- 
tural, evangelistic, and medical service was known 
and esteemed. Consecrated courage and common 
sense, under the blessing of God, have built at 
Ponte Nova a work which is like a city set on a 
hill, whose light cannot be hid. 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 308 


From the beginning of the work at Ponte Nova 
a standard of the strictest economy has been set, 
and in the main has been rigidly followed. Since 
1916, aside from the salaries of Dr. and Mrs. Wood 
from 1916 to 1923, and the salary of Miss Hepperle 
for the past year, and except for an initial grant of 
$150 and an appropriation of $1,455 made for the 
hospital by the Women’s Committee of the Board, 
no funds from the Church at home have gone into 
the medical work. ‘The ranch cost the Board little 
in the beginning, its purchase and the building of 
the school being made possible by the conversion 
of other property. Since then the Board’s invest- 
ment in the educational, agricultural, and evan- 
gelistic work of the Station for property and 
equipment has not exceeded $3,000. The entire 
increase in property, as represented by the sixteen 
buildings and improved equipment of the Station, 
has been financed without any help from the United 
States except for the appropriations totaling 
approximately $4,600 already noted, the funds 
needed for the expansion of the work being pro- 
vided through savings on the field and through 
personal contributions of the missionaries. Aside 
from the missionaries’ salaries and a minor grant 
for Brazilian school-teachers, no subsidies have 
been paid to the Station by the Mission and 
Board. I do not know of any other Mission Sta- 
tion of our Church which has a financial record that 
can equal the record of this interior Station. 

The Station has done magnificently in financing 
its work during these past nineteen years without 


304 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





asking help from the Mission and Board, but Mrs. 
Gillmore and I, as representatives of our Board, 
both feel that the Station and Mission should be 
given more cooperation and help in the immediate 
future by the Board and Church at home, and that 
in some instances economy has been carried so far 
that the efficiency and health of the missionaries 
are being, or will be, seriously affected. The mis- 
sionary residences are not much better or more 
comfortable than those of the Brazilian country 
people of the region. There is malaria in the 
Utinga valley, but none of the residences have 
screens; most of them have no ceilings, but are 
of one story, with rooms opening directly on the 
unpainted rafters and rough tiles of the roof 
above; none have running water or modern pro- 
visions for sewage and sanitation. There was 
absolutely no complaint by anyone, and the mem- 
bers of the Station seemed surprised that we 
should raise the question of any future change 
in living conditions. When we made further 
Inquiries, one family admitted that they had 
lived in Brazil for ten years in houses without 
wooden floors; another said they would ap- 
preciate a house with ceilings but did not really 
expect such provision for their comfort. One 
young couple in Ponte Nova were living in two 
small rooms of what was really a workman’s tool 
house. When we asked them if they were not un- 
comfortable there, they seemed surprised and said 
they were grateful for the two rooms, for formerly 
they had lived in only one. When Dr. Speer 


‘(00g °d) ., dtystom ur urol uvo siaSeypIA pue syuspnys osoyM podeyo oAtjoraqqe uy ,, 


HOYODHOD VAON ALNOd GHW 











it a i 7 > mal 7 _ . 
Lye gh] 7 , ; A is ry ’ , i 
- Pawn) o s 
i 7 7 mn, tA 
7 ’ e . 7 P Wits 
‘ > Lan 









ihe ow oe SL eS 
2 & Wee! in Fey : 4 Pp ce - -, “ 
A cw 4 nes is need ‘ i by y ts a 
eT Acca e %! PANEL Fy or saaly. ay teh Asp a fae : 
Te 7 ¢ . 






re Ph oo Oe Peak 
RO Em REN tats Ls 


~~ anys 





THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 305 


visited Ponte Nova in 1909, he also commented on 
the housing facilities provided by the ranch house: 
“TI do not think that a missionary family should 
live in the ranch house without some improvements. 
The floors downstairs are simply thin tiles laid on 
the earth. ‘There should be floors that allow a 
circulation of air beneath. If it is found desirable 
later to build another house for residence, it should 
be a little farther back on still higher ground.” 
We wished that some of the very few individuals 
who believe that missionaries live in luxury could 
make the trip with us to Ponte Nova, and could 
see for themselves the residences which these 
pioneers on the fringe of civilization call home. 
The most expensive residence at Ponte Nova 
cost less than $800. In other Mission Stations of 
a similar type, the cost of a residence is estimated 
at from $3,000 to $4,000. Construction is very 
cheap at Ponte Nova, because the fazenda can pro- 
vide timber and other building materials, make 
bricks, and secure cheap labor; certainly in the 
future, houses with good floors, screens, ceilings, 
and running water facilities should be built, and an 
expenditure of $1,500 to $2,000 would not be too 
much for each residence. Many members of our 
Church at home pay more than that for a garage. 
The Board has voted to send a delegation to visit 
each Mission at least once every seven years, and 
as soon as practicable once every five years. Each 
Mission at the time of such a visitation plans out 
its work and policy during the coming five- or 
seven-year period and computes its possible re- 


306 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





quirements as to its equipment and staff. At the 
Mission meeting at Ponte Nova, the Central Brazil 
Mission agreed upon a five-year property list which 
totaled roughly $55,000. Some of the chief items 
on the list are enumerated below. 

First on the list is a request for $3,000 for com- 
pletion of the Grace Memorial Hospital, a modest 
request when compared to the sums asked for hos- 
pitals in other fields. 'The medical work expects 
to earn an equivalent sum for necessary equipment 
for the new hospital building. $1,000 is asked 
for a portable sawmill, $2,000 for a steam tractor to 
provide power for the mill and for other purposes 
about the ranch. All lumber at Ponte Nova is 
either hewn out by broadax or is whipsawed by two 
men, one standing on a platform above the other. 
In other Mission Stations in pioneer areas, port- 
able sawmills have been brought in to do such 
work. Whether or not there is sufficient demand 
at Ponte Nova to justify the expense of such a 
mill is an open question. ‘The experiment would 
be an interesting one. The sum of $2,500 is asked 
for a new dormitory for the boys, to be built on 
higher land above the present girl’s dormitory, this 
new building to include a residence for a mission- 
ary as well as quarters for thirty boys. Funds are 
needed for purchase of land controlling a waterfall 
and rapids of the Utinga River below the Ponte 
Nova ranch, which will provide electric power and 
running water, the present water supply being both 
inadequate and unhygienic. $5,000 is needed for 
a new dormitory for the girls and a residence for 


THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 307 





the missionary director of the school and for the 
missionary teacher, this building also to be placed 
on higher land near the new dormitory for the boys. 
The new building is to accommodate fifty girls and 
a missionary family and a teacher; the sum of 
$5,000 seems small to provide such a building, and 
we hope that the Women’s Committee of the Board 
or the woman’s missionary societies will see to it 
that this money is surely given during the coming 
year. 

The needs outside Ponte Nova were also con- 
sidered by the Mission. Other stations of this 
type, combining school, medical work, agricultural 
training, and evangelistic service are to be planted 
across the state of Bahia. The first one is to be 
located in the southwestern part of the state, in the 
field where Rev. and Mrs. Chester C. Carnahan 
have lived and worked; $5,000 is needed for the 
initial cost of the establishment of this Station. 
Mr. and Mrs. Carnahan are in the United States 
now and we hope the pastors and members of our 
churches will aid them in securing this needed sum. 
Bahia City presents a challenging opportunity for 
service; 325,000 people live there, one tenth of the 
population of the entire state; our Mission and 
Board should go forward with energy and courage 
in its more adequate occupation. In 1909, Dr. 
Speer emphasized the need of a good school there; 
the sum of $5,000 has been made available for such 
a school; about half of this sum has been invested 
in land, but more land is needed and to build or 
buy suitable property; $15,000 additional is needed 


308 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





and should be given. The Ponte Nova fazenda 
also needs additional equipment and stock, but these 
requests the Mission has placed in groups two and 
three of its present needs. 

We reached Ponte Nova, Friday night, May 8; 
Saturday we spent in visiting the various buildings 
and in becoming acquainted with the diversified 
work of the Station; Sunday morning, there was a 
Sunday-school service at which Mrs. Gillmore and 
Mr. Haldane made addresses; Sunday afternoon, a 
communion service; and that night, a church 
gathering at which I spoke. At these meetings 
the girls and boys of the school were conspicuous 
for their shining faces and attractive appearance, 
a striking contrast with the children whom we had 
seen along the trail, and an irrefutable argument 
as to the worth of such missionary enterprise as 
Ponte Nova represents. From Monday until 
Friday evening the Mission held its meetings, every 
member being present except Miss E. R. William- 
son, who was not able to make the trip from 
Jacobina, and those who were on furlough in the 
homeland. Mr. Haldane was present as an in- 
vited guest from Pernambuco, and his appoint- 
ment as full member of the Mission was recom- 
mended at this meeting to the Board. Our dele- 
gation discussed with the Mission their various 
problems: problems of relationship and organiza- 
tion, such as are presented by the revised consti- 
tution of the Brazil Council, which in the future 
will represent Missions and Board in their rela- 
tions with the National Presbyterian Church, its 


‘(90¢ ‘d) spaau apoyy yoou 07 yUoUd nbs YUoPYo sLoUL LOJ SULYSe ST UOTZVIG PAON 9UOg 


ATddOS FWALVM AHL TIINMVS VAON WZLNOd V 





'. 
‘ 
Ua | 
of 
I 
ro 
= 
H i 
en 
AIM 
¥ 
ee > 2 
= 
fa : 


ett 


, ae as 


bay | 





ae eee | As =" as 
ah ” ey 
. . 1 an “iow, 3% a 
iy Cee We oe 
. orn ¥. 7 ary } iG 
“i y Sew A ‘he Ps 
i vk a - the v 
7 7 a”, i sd 
ms tye Tee 
See + Geer 


) ee 





THE WORK OF A PROTESTANT MISSION 309 





General Assembly and the Executive Committee 
of the Assembly, and will codrdinate the work of 
the two Missions in Brazil; problems such as the 
administration of the medical work, which in the 
future 1s to be brought into closer unity and inte- 
gration with the other branches of the work of the 
Station; problems of development, of emphasis, of 
policy, of correlation, and of acquisition of the 
spiritual power and strength needed so truly if the 
great burden of work that must be done is to be 
carried forward by this little missionary group in 
the heart of the state of Bahia. 

At the last meeting, on Friday evening, May 
15, before the missionaries from Bahia City and 
Mr. Haldane and Mrs. Gillmore and I should leave 
on the following day, we all knelt in a final 
service of prayer. One feels close to God at such 
times of prayer with our missionaries on the field. 
That evening the stillness of the Utinga Valley 
was about us; above us shone the southern stars; 
within our hearts was a light and a peace that the 
outside world could neither give nor take away. 
We thanked God for the hours of warm and true 
fellowship together; for what had been: accom- 
plished in the past two decades by the power and 
grace of His Holy Spirit and through the unspar- 
ing devotion and courage of those who had given 
themselves to the service in Ponte Nova and in 
Central Brazil; in that friendly circle of light that 
was so hemmed in and surrounded by the darkness 
of the tropical valley, we thanked the Father above, 
and took new courage for the carrying forward of 


310 MODERN MISSIONS IN CHILE 





the blazing torch into new regions of opportunity 
and along new paths of duty, however dark those 
realms and roads might be. Because of our prayers 
for one another, and through the prayers that will 
be uttered this coming year for the work in Latin 
America and in Brazil, we believe that the word of 
the Lord will “run and be glorified,” both in the 
North and in the South, both in the shining land we 
know as America and in the country where the 
light shines in the midst of so much darkness, the 
nation to which our missionaries are giving their 
love and their lives, the illimitable, alluring, lonely 
land of Brazil. 
W. R. W. 


CHAPTER XIV 
BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 


On S.S. American LeEGIon, 
June 14, 1925 


UR final days in Brazil before boarding this 

steamer at Rio on June 10, were full and 
happy ones. In Bahia, during our stay from May 
22-27, we had an added opportunity of seeing and 
sharing in the work of the local churches and church 
groups which are under the direction of Mr. Ander- 
son; of inspecting various sites for the proposed 
Bahia school, which should be established at the 
earliest possible moment; of learning of the grow- 
ing work of the missionaries of the Southern Bap- 
tist Church, who have opened a school and founded 
several churches in the city; of meeting members 
of the American community, including the efficient 
consul, Mr. Brett; and of informing ourselves more 
about the character and products of the city and 
state of Bahia. 

The state’s chief products are cocoa, tobacco, 
coffee, sugar, and hides, in the order named, but it 
is also the home of two products, one vegetable and 
the other mineral, which are of world-wide im- 
portance and interest. Bahia state was the orig- 
inal home of the finest species of navel orange, 
known in the United States as the “ Washington 
navel”; and in the mines along the Paraguassu 

311 


312 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





River in Bahia the most valuable kinds of carbons, 
miners’ “ black diamonds,” are found. 

A publication of the United States Department 
of Agriculture’ states that the importation from 
Bahia into this country of the Washington navel 
orange “has proven to be, perhaps, the most valu- 
able introduction in the way of fruits ever made by 
the Department of Agriculture. Its culture in 
California has been continually extended, until 
to-day the industry produces an annual income of 
approximately $30,000,000.” * 

This orange was first sent to the United States 
by a Presbyterian missionary, Rev. F. I. C. 
Schneider, of Bahia, who in response to a sugges- 
tion from the United States Commissioner of Agri- 
culture in 1869, forwarded some trees to Washing- 
ton. Mr. William Saunders, Superintendent of 
Gardens and Grounds of the Department of Agri- 
culture, in an unpublished notebook, thus describes 
this importation, his account being of interest, 
incidentally, in the light it throws upon the fickle- 
ness of nomenclature, and upon a certain aspect of 
local psychology: 

“Sometime in 1869 the then commissioner of 
agriculture, Horace Capron, brought to my office 
and read to me a letter which he had just received 
from a correspondent at Bahia, Brazil. Among 
other matters, special mention was made of a fine 
seedless orange of large size and fine flavor. 
Thinking that it might be of value in this country, 


1 The Navel Orange of Bahia. U.S. Department of Agricul- 
ture, Bulletin No. 445. 


BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 313 





I noted the address of the writer and sent a letter 
asking to be the recipient of a few plants of this 
orange. ‘This request brought, in course of time, 
a small box of orange twigs, utterly dry and use- 
less. I immediately sent a letter requesting that 
some one be employed to graft a few trees on 
young stocks and that all expenses would be paid 
by the Department. Ultimately a box arrived 
containing twelve newly budded trees, and, these 
being packed as I had suggested, were found to be 
in fairly good condition. 

“ The first two young plants received from Bahia 
that were sent out were forwarded to a Mrs. Tib- 
betts, Riverside, California. That lady called here 
and was anxious to get some of these plants for her 
place, and I sent two of them by mail. They pros- 
pered with her, and when they fruited, attention 
was directed to their size and fine appearance, and 
when ripe, their excellence was acknowledged and 
the fruit was called ‘ Riverside navel,’ thus ignor- 
ing the label attached to the plants, ‘ Bahia,’ a very 
distinctive name, which should have been retained. 
Afterwards, other Californians, not wishing River- 
side to be boomed with the name, changed it to 
‘Washington navel,’ all of which was uncalled for, 
but this Department could not alter it, and it was 
considered best to adopt the name and so avoid 
further confusion.” 

Several years ago, Dr. Waddell, President of 
Mackenzie College, who, according to the Bulletin 
of the Department of Agriculture, has furnished 
the most complete and probably the most accurate 


314 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





statement concerning the origin of the fruit, during 
the first or second decade of the nineteenth century. 
in the Cabulla district of Bahia, visited Riverside, 
California, and saw the two original trees sent by 
Mr. Saunders to Mrs. ‘Tibbetts. 

The other unique product of Bahia is mineral. 
Until the Kimberly Mines of South Africa were 
opened in 1870, Bahia and the neighboring state of 
Minas Geraes were the only places in the world 
where diamonds were mined in commercial quan- 
tities. Bahia still furnishes the world carbonatos 
or bort. In 1895 the largest mass on record, weigh- 
ing 3,078 karats, was mined there. This substance 
known also as carbons or non-crystalline diamonds, 
black, slaggy, and clinker-like stones, is used to pro- 
vide the cutting edge of core drills, and because of its 
scarcity and the rivalry of American firms, its price 
has doubled within the past year. Mr. Richardson, 
the local manager for the mines of the Patrick 
Company of Duluth, accompanied us from Para- 
guassu to Bahia and showed us a handful of these 
small, black, uncut stones, which he said were worth 
some $60,000. Of course he had to exercise due 
precautions in traveling through that unpoliced 
country, and was always armed. 

Gold is found everywhere but not in large quan- 
tities in Bahia, but it is mined farther south, and 
this fact has romantic as well as economic possi- 
bilities and implications. Recently a son of one of 
our Brazilian missionaries took advantage of these 
mineral resources by having his engagement ring 
made from gold mined in Sao Paulo, with a dia- 


BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 315 





mond which came from the Bahia mines, certainly 
a most appropriate and eloquent gift. 

The rainy season with its mild winds and eva- 
nescent showers was approaching during our last 
days in Bahia, but our last night there was clear 
and calm, with a stillness and peace that brooded 
over that ancient city and its picturesque and beau- 
tiful harbor that we can never forget. As the sun 
set, the little sailboats that had been motionless for 
hours upon the bay seemed to merge into the quiet 
waters and to rest there, as if they had become an 
integral part of a tired universe that had fallen into 
peaceful sleep. Lines written by Joseph Conrad 
about a sunset on other tropical shores, reproduce 
truly that scene: 

“ There was no wind, and a small brig that had 
lain all the afternoon a few miles to the northward 


and westward .. . had hardly altered its position 
half a mile during all these hours. ... The calm 
was absolute. ... As far as the eye could reach 


there was nothing but an impressive immobility. 
Nothing moved on earth, on the waters, and above 
them in the unbroken lustre of the sky. On the 
unruffled surface of the Straits the brig floated 
tranquil and upright as if bolted solidly, keel to 
keel, with its own image reflected in the unframed 
and immense mirror of the sea. To the south and 
east the double islands watched silently the double 
ship that seemed fixed amongst them forever, a 
hopeless captive of the calm, a helpless prisoner of 
the shallow sea. 

“The falling sun seemed to be arrested for a 


316 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





moment in his descent by the sleeping waters, while 
from it, to the motionless brig, shot out on the 
polished and dark surface of the sea a track of light, 
straight and shining, resplendent and direct; a path 
of gold and crimson and purple; a path that seemed 
to lead dazzling and terrible from the earth straight 
into heaven through the portals of a glorious death. 
It faded slowly. The sea vanquished the light. At 
last only a vestige of the sun remained far off, like 
a red spark floating on the water. It lingered, and 
all at once, without warning, as if extinguished by a 
treacherous hand, it went out... . 

“In half an hour after sunset the darkness had 
taken complete possession of earth and heavens. 
The islands had melted into the night. And on the 
smooth water of the Straits, the little brig lying so 
still seemed to sleep profoundly, wrapped up in a 
scented mantle of starlight and silence.” * 

The next day, May 28, with feelings that only 
the “ missionary exile”? and “ missionary visitor ” 
can know, we said good-by to Mr. and Mrs. Ander- 
son and Mr. and Mrs. Baker and boarded the 
Dutch steamer, 8.S. Zeelandia, for Rio, leaving 
there two couples to carry on their brave work, 
isolated and surrounded by the more than 300,000 
dusky citizens of Bahia. 

On the thirtieth we reached Rio, and the ten 
days that followed were full ones. We had the 
opportunity of meeting the Brazilian pastors of all 
denominations who live in Rio, a fine, capable 
group of men who have helped to make the Prot- 

1 The Rescue, Joseph Conrad, pp. 12, 13, 20-23. 


BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 317 





estant Church the force it is in Brazil to-day; of 
conferring with Brazilian representatives of our 
own Church concerning the proposed preseminary 
department that Dr. Waddell expects to help es- 
tablish after he leaves the presidency of Mackenzie 
College in April, 1926; of visiting the Union Theo- 
logical Seminary, where Dr. Donald C. MacLaren 
is teaching, the seminary being housed temporarily 
in property belonging to the Southern Methodist 
Church, and used also by them for a thriving day 
school; of visiting the attractive grounds and build- 
ings of Bennett College, a school for girls main- 
tained by the Southern Methodist Board, where, as 
at Crandon Institute at Montevideo, the wisdom 
of making a substantial investment of upwards of 
$300,000 in property and equipment, well located 
in a metropolitan area, has been amply demon- 
strated; of seeing the bookstore managed by the 
Baptists, which is the only Protestant center of its 
kind in Rio; and of becoming familiar with the 
headquarters of the Brazilian Committee on Co- 
operation, which, with the American Bible Society 
and the World’s Sunday School Association, has 
offices at Number 6, on the “ Avenue First of 
March.” Sunday morning, the seventh, we took 
part in the services at the Union Church for Ameri- 
cans and British, and that evening participated in 
a most impressive service in the Brazilian Presby- 
terian church. 

The circumstances which led up to this last serv- 
ice were extraordinary and tinged with tragedy. 
On June 2 we had conferred with Senhor Alvaro 


318 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Reis, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church 
at Rio, about the presentation of a beautiful Brazil- 
ian flag that his congregation desired us to take to 
the Board of Foreign Missions in New York as a 
gift from the Presbyterian Church of Brazil to the 
Presbyterian Church of the United States. Senhor 
Alvaro was to present the flag on the following 
Sunday, June 7, with appropriate ceremonies. On 
the night of June 3 he was suddenly seized by a heart 
attack. He knew death was near and he began 
to sing a hymn in Portuguese to the air of 
“Home Sweet Home.” He died within two 
hours. On Friday, the fifth, his funeral was held. 

For twenty-eight years Senhor Alvaro had been 
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Rio. 
The church at the time of his death had a communi- 
cant membership of over 1,900, with a great Sun- 
day school and with branch services in various parts 
of Rio. It is the largest Protestant church in 
South America. Senhor Alvaro, whose full name 
was Alvaro Emygdio Goncalves dos Reis, was born 
in 1864, was ordained in 1889, and had been pastor 
in Rio since 1897. ‘The newspapers of Rio com- 
mented upon his character and work, giving this 
space despite the fact that Senhor Alvaro was a 
Protestant. One writer made the statement that, 
among other rich results of his ministry, there were 
two institutions in Rio which had come into being 
largely through his influence and leadership, the 
Y. M. C. A. and the Evangelical Hospital. 

The walls and gallery of the church where the 
funeral was held were covered with wreaths and 


BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 319 





flowers; a great crowd thronged the building and 
crowded about the open coffin in the center of the 
church. ‘The funeral began at eleven-thirty and 
continued until two: a dozen or more speakers, 
representing all sections of society and all parts 
of the city, spoke from their hearts, telling of their 
love for Senhor Alvaro and of what he had meant 
to them. Men and women in the audience sobbed 
openly and audibly during the ceremony. At 
the open grave these scenes were continued, new 
speakers rising to pay their tribute before the earth 
should close over the body of one whom they so 
much loved. 

At the service the following Sunday evening, 
Senhor Erasmo Braga presided, and one of the 
women of the church, standing beside the beautiful 
Brazilian banner of satin, made a formal presenta- 
tion address, to which Mrs. Gillmore and I re- 
sponded on behalf of the Board and the Church at 
home. We recalled Dr. Speer’s words, written 
after he had first met Senhor Alvaro in 1909, when 
he said: “ I was drawn to Senhor Alvaro with gen- 
uine confidence and love. ... He was overflow- 
ing with good works, wisely planned and tirelessly 
executed. No one could come to know him with- 
out deep gratitude and joy,’ and we thought 
of the words of Edwin Markham, written of 
another leader who had been suddenly taken away: 


“And when he fell in whirlwind, he went down, 
As when a lordly cedar, green with boughs, 
Goes down with a great shout upon the hills, 
And leaves a lonesome place against the sky.” 


320 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





In the passing of Senhor Alvaro Reis, a mighty 
cedar of Lebanon has fallen, leaving a lonesome 
place on the whole horizon of the Protestant 
Church in Brazil. 

On the ninth we had a few hours for a final view 
of the city and harbor which we were to leave on the 
following day, and we took the aérial journey to 
the top of Sugar Loaf, Pao d Assucar, the pre- 
cipitous, perpendicular block of granite that pro- 
jects a quarter of a mile into the air and guards the 
entrance to the bay. <A _ basket-like car that can 
carry a dozen passengers, suspended on two gos- 
samer-appearing wire cables, swings out over the 
bay, and by electrical cable power climbs the steep 
ascent to the rocky pinnacle of the Sugar Loaf. 
The expedition is advertised as the “ most beautiful 
and most emotionating trip in the world,” and Mrs. 
Gillmore and I felt that there was substantial basis 
for these adjectives. The view of the city and 
harbor and mountains and sea from this central 
elevation certainly compensated for the “‘ emotion- 
ations” and palpitations of the aérial journey. 

On the tenth we sailed on the American Legion, 
of the Munson Line, a sister ship of the Southern 
Cross and Pan-America. ‘The captain, George 
Rose, had a unique record in the Spanish-American 
War and Boxer campaign, being cited five times 
for the Congressional medal of honor, and _ hav- 
ing twice received this highest of American mili- 
tary decorations. He is a worthy captain of a ship 
which bears such an honored name. 

To-morrow we cross the Equator. To-day cor- 


BAHIA, RIO, AND NEW YORK 321 





responds to December 14 in the Northern Hemi- 
sphere. We are within a week of the shortest day in 
the year. Last night the sun set at five-thirty. A 
week from to-day, in the Northern Hemisphere, 
will be the longest day in the year, and the sun will 
not go down until after eight-thirty. So we move 
from one world to another, from the winter of the 
South with all the memories of the past months, to 
the spring and summer of the North, with all its ex- 
pectations and hopes. In a closing chapter of his 
book, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Theodore 
Roosevelt has written of a similar homeward jour- 
ney; we conclude these letters with his words: 

“The North was calling strongly to all of us 
from the North.... After nightfall we could 
now see the Dipper well above the horizon, upside 
down, with the two pointers pointing to a north 
star below the world’s rim; but the Dipper, with 
all its stars. In our home country spring had now 
come; the wonderful northern spring of long, glo- 
rious days, of brooding twilights, of cool, delight- 
ful nights. Robin and bluebird, meadow lark and 
song sparrow, were singing in the mornings at 
home . . . the serene, golden melody of the wood 
thrush on Long Island would be heard before we 
were there to listen. Each man to his home, and 
to his true love! Each was longing for the homely 
things that were so dear to him, for the home people 
who were dearer still, and for the one who was 
dearest of all.” * 

Weave 


1 Through the Brazilian Wilderness, Theodore Roosevelt, p. 329. 


CHAPTER XV 
AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 


N the first years of the fifteenth century the 
Iberic kingdoms were completing the expulsion 
of the Moors, the Turks were cutting off the 
world’s trade route to India, and men were whisper- 
ing to each other that the world was round, that 
to travel from east to west was just as possible as 
from west to east. Henry the Navigator, a prince 
of Portugal, saw that the Moorish coast across the 
sea was very strong and formed the plan which 
after four centuries is Just struggling to its con- 
clusion under the banners of Spain and France. 
He would take to the ocean, pass the Moorish 
coast, conquer the lands beyond, go ever south- 
ward to the somewhere that classic tradition said 
gave an ocean path to the eastern waters, and then, 
enriched by the wealth of India, attack the Moors 
from the rear and plant the banner of the cross on 
the arid hills of the Riff. To this end he estab- 
lished a school for explorers at Sagres and sent his 
captains out with orders to carry the banner four 
leagues farther on each annual voyage. If some 
failed, others succeeded. ‘The African islands were 
explored and Portuguese domination established 
far down the African coast. 
When Henry’s successors thought that they must 
be nearing the margin of the eastern waters, the 
322 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 323 


Genoese in the service of Spain made his daring 
dash across the Atlantic and brought back news of 
‘“ India” reached by sailing westward. ‘The king 
of Portugal protested against this intrusion into 
the domain he was seeking, and Spain and Portugal 
armed, but asked for papal arbitration. ‘The pope, 
with noble generosity, divided other people’s 
possessions beween them by the famous treaty of 
Tordesillas. It was intended that all the newly 
discovered lands should be left to Spain, while Por- 
tugal would have that which was already known to 
the world by land exploration. 

Just then Vasco da Gama pushed around the 
Cape of Good Hope and opened the long-sought 
route to India, and in March of 1500 a fleet set 
out from the Tagus to make the quickest possible 
voyage thither. Veteran navigators had dis- 
covered that in the Gulf of Guinea the doldrums 
were wide and difficult, and orders were given to 
bear away westward, seeking narrower doldrums 
in the open sea, and then to head for the cape. On 
the third of May the leading vessels caught sight 
of land to the westward and soon found that they 
were coasting shores far to the eastward of the 
division line. A ship was sent home to announce 
the discovery. 

The king sent a few ships to explore and soon 
found that he had a large piece of real estate, but 
since no gold was found in the hands of the natives 
or piled on the shore, and there were no strong 
cities with which to trade or weak ones to plunder, 
the land had few attractions, and for some time 


324 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





nothing was done with it. In those days fully one 
half of the ships that attempted the India voyage 
were lost and all were glad to break the voyage by 
getting water and other supplies at any land they 
might find, and a number of shipwrecked men and 
deserters from ships that touched on the coast 
established themselves in Brazil. 

Two of these, one in Bahia and the other near 
Santos, in Sao Paulo, formed very friendly rela- 
tions with the natives. Joao Ramalho, at Santos, 
met a tribe who fished on the seacoast, carried the 
fish up the mountains and out beyond the hill mists 
to dry them in the sun, and then used them as a 
trade staple with more remote tribes. He made 
himself useful, married the chief’s daughter, pro- 
tected others of his countrymen that appeared on 
the scene, and established a thriving alliance with 
the Indians, in which, within fifty years, the Portu- 
guese element predominated. 

After a few years the king of Portugal found 
that the French and others were interesting them- 
selves in the dyewood and other productions of his 
new land, and resolved to take possession of it. 
Preferring the lucrative India trade for himself, 
he very kindly presented Brazil to his nobles in 
slices running westward from the coast to the line 
of Tordesillas, on condition that the recipients 
should establish settlements and improve the coun- 
try. Of the twelve donees, one had sense enough 
to drop his claim; three failed; eight succeeded in 
establishing settlements, of which two, that which 
encountered Caramuru and his friends at Bahia 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 325 





and that which found Ramalho and his tribe at 
Sao Vicente, became of great importance. 

After fourteen years of experiment with the 
feudal method of settlement, the king decided that 
the land was sufficiently valuable to justify his 
spending some money on it, reassumed the grants 
made to his nobles, and in 1549 sent out a royal 
expedition. 

In those days sugar was becoming king of inter- 
national commerce, and the settlements soon gath- 
ered themselves around Bahia and Pernambuco 
where good ports and magnificent sugar lands 
offered great inducement. Bahia became the seat 
of government and the leading settlement. 

The Church was interested in the efforts of the 
donees and was strongly represented in the royal 
settlements. ‘The Jesuits appeared in consider- 
able numbers. They heard of Ramalho’s village 
in the interior and pushed up the mountains with a 
royal order which authorized them to catechize the 
Indians. ‘The result was a struggle, which extended 
over two centuries, between the Jesuits and the 
colonists. ‘The priests had practically the monop- 
oly of writing, and their story has come down to 
us in written form, while the version of the colo- 
nists is preserved by the facts. No altruistic effort 
to keep the Indians from slavery caused the quar- 
rel. The contest was between two sets of slavers: 
the priests, who wished for their own exclusive use 
and profit to reduce the natives to the condition 
to which they brought the natives of Paraguay and 
of southern California, and the colonists, who 


326 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





wished to use them for all sorts of service but 
especially for exploration. 

The settlers were accused of great cruelty. If 
they committed greater atrocities than those of 
which the priests at times were guilty, the situation 
was horrifying. But when we find two white men 
and eight half-breeds leading seven hundred or 
eight hundred Indian slaves on a three years’ march 
through forests and over mountains in search of 
gold, and bringing them back again gold-laden, 
when every step of the road was an invitation to 
desertion, or another party with two or three 
whites, a dozen half-breeds, and a few hundred 
Indian slaves, capturing a village of Jesuit “ civil- 
ized Indians” and “ dragging ”’ them as “ hopeless 
captives ’’ to Sao Paulo so fast that the first of the 
captives got there two weeks before their captors, 
who had stayed behind to cover the retreat, we are 
forced to admit that cruelties may have existed and 
been great, but that they were satisfactory to the 
Indian heart. 

At the very outset of their career of exploration, 
the descendants of Ramalho and his friends en- 
countered a difficulty. A very short march west 
of Sao Paulo brought them to Spanish territory 
and the road to everything that was enticing to the 
bandeirantes, as these chiefs were called, led over 
the line. The king of Portugal had no desire to 
have Spanish territories invaded. He feared 
trouble in Kurope. The Church, which had more 
ample protection from the Spanish viceroys, was 
against it; royal governors practically all took their 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 327 


cue from home, so the Paulista bandeirante was 
opposed by all the known elements of authority and 
force. However, he paid about as much attention 
to this as our western frontiersmen paid to votes of 
Congress and treaties with the Indians. He most 
methodically put the bulge in Brazil (see map). 
All to the southward and westward of the line of 
Tordesillas he took with his own harquebus and the 
bows and arrows of his Indians from a hostile king 
and a more hostile Church, in the name of a 
monarch who invariably disowned him; but take it 
he did and kept it he has. Treaties finally recog- 
nized the facts and the Brazil of to-day is the result. 

While the Paulistas were creating Brazil, various 
European powers were attacking those parts of the 
coast known to possess trade resources. The 
French invaded the region of Rio de Janeiro, seek- 
ing brazilwood, and were expelled. One French 
expedition was supposed to consist of Huguenots, 
but a quarrel arose between the clergy and the mili- 
tary leader which resulted in the latter declaring 
himself a Romanist and sending most of the faith- 
ful Huguenots back to France, while the rest fell 
into the hands of the Portuguese and were executed 
as heretics. Another futile attempt was made by 
the French in Maranhao in 1612. The settlement 
of Rio de Janeiro resulted from the necessity of 
guarding the bay against new invasions and it be- 
came the southern capital. 

In 1581 the crown of Portugal passed to the 
Spanish heir, and in 1624, Brazil was assailed by 
the Dutch West India Company, the founders of 


328 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





New Amsterdam, who overran the coast from 
Bahia northward to Cape Sao Roque and made 
Pernambuco their capital. 

In 1640, Portugal reéstablished its independence. 
The same year the Paulistas revolted and acclaimed 
their leader, Amador Bueno, as king. He refused 
the crown and induced them to continue united to 
Portugal. They, however, expelled the Jesuits 
and the customhouse officers and for a long time the 
royal power sat very lightly upon them. The 
Dutch did not desist from their colonization pro- 
ject when Portugal became independent, and had 
the policy of racial conciliation maugurated by 
Maurice of Nassau been followed, they might have 
maintained their conquest, but the prince retired, 
the nationals took new courage, and in 1654 ex- 
pelled the Dutch. 

At this time Brazil had its coast in hand from 
the Amazon to the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, 
and the energy of the Paulista bandeirantes, one 
of whom had led their forces to the Dutch war, was 
directed to exploration. ‘Their first expeditions 
had sought Indians; others had brought back 
treasures captured from the Spanish settlements in 
the Andes; but in the latter part of the seventeenth 
century gold was found in various parts of the 
interior of Brazil itself. A large number of 
Ejuropean miners soon appeared on the scene and, 
under the leadership of Portuguese officers, sought 
to drive the Paulistas from the mines. The 
struggle, at first favorable to the Paulistas, cul- 
minated in a severe defeat. ‘Their forces retreated 











BDESILLAS LINE — 
caper tee fe 


le 
~~ 


___TORDE 





+S ee 





MAP OF BRAZIL 





— SHOWING LINE ESTABLISHED 
| BY TREATY OF TORDESILLAS 














ne Le Oe Pe 


ed heh 


t ay paves came | Mb, Verte uw 


4 oe 


~ 

ie a 
_ an 

cap ra A oe 


Aen wh bad 1¢3 . 


reg Tesdgnd « oo vl 


’ a inn > y 2.3 Path,” 
Peek Tey at {ei 


n 


bom ir bees. 


¥ 7 
oe 
eS i 
. a 
9 


| | 
hind Per 


omedhl srantene 


wy 


+7, 
et ae 
EF; 


athepitek wat Thus } 
THUCLIGA TRY 1 tthe o atwygne 


¢ 
e 


B 


: = 


# Joon apie reds or sie 


the leacien’ ap (35 t soo cspem oftx 
aulletes. Protea. tie. ae 
vile at. firsy devorable. te oan vil 
nie Z ea severe dyes, | 


y 
ithe: 2 





eT a 
« “_ = 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 329 





to Sao Paulo and found their houses closed against 
them and their families refusing to recognize them 
until they should return victorious. They re- 
turned to the struggle against enemies constantly 
reénforced by new arrivals from Europe, and were 
practically exterminated. 

One of the tragic tales of Brazilian history is of 
the return of the solitary fugitive who rode through 
the streets of the town, proclaiming to the women 
of Sao Paulo that their fathers, husbands, broth- 
ers, and sons were dead in the great wilderness. 

The Portuguese Government separated Sao 
Paulo from Rio de Janeiro in 1710, and in 1720 
separated from Sao Paulo all districts containing 
mines, under the title of Minas Geraes (General 
Mines), and gave all support and aid to the mining 
region whence it gained its greatest revenue. 

For a century and a half Sao Paulo did not 
recover from this blow, although its leaders con- 
tinued to be the explorers of the great interior, 
discovering the mines of Goyaz and those of Matto 
Grosso, and pushing into the region of the upper 
Amazon. 

For a century Brazil was a fountain of wealth. 
Gold and diamonds were mined over a very large 
area, and the royal fifth rendered immense sums. 
The North, engaged in the sugar trade, was pros- 
perous, and royal governors with their accompany- 
ing swarm of personal attendants followed each 
other, returning home laden with the spoils. 

Following the narrow commercial policy of the 
age, the ports were forbidden to the vessels of other 


330 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





nations and even the trade with Portugal was from 
time to time put in the hands of chartered monop- 
olies. ‘The Church supported the crown in main- 
taining the people in tutelage and the provinces, 
from Sao Paulo southward, which did not offer 
easy profits were comparatively neglected. ‘The 
Anglo-Portuguese alliance was an almost complete 
protection against foreign aggression. | 

In the movement of the Liberal ministers in 
Europe, which preceded the French Revolution, 
the Marquez de Pombal, of Portugal, showed him- 
self one of the most energetic, and his expulsion 
of the Jesuits in 1759 and his suppression of the 
Inquisition and various attempts at reform 
loosened somewhat the rigidity of the Government 
organization. 

Students from Paris, some of whom had been in 
contact with Franklin and Jefferson, dreamed of 
liberty and independence, but the Government’s 
secret service was omnipresent and their efforts 
culminated for the time in the execution of Tira- 
dentes, April 21, 1789, and the savage persecution 
of his family and associates. Various revolts 
through the century were suffocated in blood. 

In 1808 the royal house of Portugal was driven 
from Lisbon by the Napoleonic armies and fled 
under guard of an English fleet to Brazil, where 
they chose Rio de Janeiro for their residence, thus 
fixing its status as capital. Their dependence upon 
England rendered necessary the opening of the 
ports, and commerce with the rest of the world soon 
made the relation with Portugal intolerable. All 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 331 





over Latin America a spirit of insurrection was 
brewing, and when it was again possible for the 
king of Portugal to return to his titular kingdom, it 
is reported that he said to his son, who was left as 
regent in Brazil, “ When independence comes, do 
not let the crown go to another; put it on your own 
head.” 

The Portuguese Government, eager to maintain 
control of the resources of Brazil, went much far- 
ther than the king wished in the attempt to coerce 
the Brazilians. 

At this juncture, September 7, 1822, the prince 
declared for independence and associated himself 
with the great leaders who had been making it 
possible. The empire was proclaimed. After a 
short struggle in which the Brazilian arms were 
efficiently aided by the fleet of Admiral Cochrane, 
the last of the great sea rovers, the separation of 
the two countries became an accomplished fact. 

The first emperor, Dom Pedro I, was too imbued 
with Portuguese ideas of absolutism to govern with 
success, and in a short time (1831) abdicated in 
favor of his son, Dom Pedro II, a boy of five years, 
and went to Portugal to contest the throne of that 
country. ‘The boy Pedro, naturally intelligent and 
social in his tastes, grew up under conditions which 
inclined him to liberalism. Difficulties with regard 
to the regency led to his recognition as monarch in 
1840, when fourteen years of age, and he continued 
to govern as the head of the state until 1889. This 
long reign was undoubtedly of great value to 
Brazil, a country of immense distances, with sparse 


332 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





population, grouped principally in certain widely 
separated districts, accustomed through all its his- 
tory to most arbitrary methods of government 
administered by officials imposed from without. 
Had the first place in the state been open to aspira- 
tion, it is certain that vigorous and long-continued 
struggles would have resulted, with possibly the 
separation of the country into independent states. 
On the other hand, the imperial power, which rarely 
made itself felt save in a rather genial way, ful- 
filled the purpose which was expressed in the im- 
perial Constitution, and was the “ moderating 
power” which checked the strife of parties and 
limited the extravagances of chiefs. Under it the 
country grew toward self-government with less 
strain than probably would have been developed 
under any other form. 

The long reign was far from being peaceful. 
Local disturbances, now forgotten except in local 
traditions, and greater troubles, often republican 
revolts that involved large regions, constantly 
developed. Every change of ministry involved a 
series of little quarrels all over the country. 

The only foreign difficulty of importance was 
the war of 1864-1870, in which Brazil, associated 
with Uruguay and Argentina, crushed Lopez, dic- 
tator of Paraguay, and brought that country out 
of the dead water in which it had been left as the 
result of priestly subjugation of the Indians and 
consequent political incapacity. 

All through the reign, the spirit of liberalism 
was growing and the people were becoming more 


AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRAZIL 333 





and more tired of the reaction inherent in the mon- 
archial form of government. Exceptionally re- 
actionary tendencies of Dom Pedro’s heirs caused 
the change to be precipitated during his lifetime. 
The abolition of slavery, May 13, 1888, was fol- 
lowed by the proclamation of the republic, Novem- 
ber 15, 1889, in obedience to what appeared to be 
a revolt of the armed forces, but really was a spon- 
taneous movement of the majority of the thinking 
members of the community. A Constitution was 
adopted, closely modeled after that of the United 
States, and after the failure of various attempts 
to subject the Government to pronunciamentos of 
the type of the Spanish-American republics, it 
passed from the military presidents that succeeded 
the provisional Government into the hands of civil- 
ian presidents regularly elected. 

Unquestionably Brazil gained by the passage to 
republican government. ‘The possibilities of free 
labor, and separation of Church and state, and the 
encouragement given to enterprise combined to 
produce rapid material development. In the last 
days of the empire Sao Paulo woke from its 
century and a half of sleep and became a great city. 
The southern provinces, despised in the days when 
sugar was king, have come into their own with 
coffee, cattle, and other products. Railroads have 
been built, ports improved, public education de- 
veloped. Despite strikes, political contests, and 
other disturbances of types all too common in other 
parts of the world, there has been no profound 
disturbance of the public peace. 


334 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Brazil entered the World War on the side of the 
Allies, and sent a division of its fleet to assist in 
patrolling the Atlantic, but Armistice Day cut 
short the preparation of an army for foreign serv- 
ice. At present, of all Latin American countries, 
Brazil offers the greatest probabilities of future 
development. 


List oF PRESIDENTS 


February, 1891...... Manoel Deodoro da Fonseca 
V. P., Floriano Peixoto’ 
ESA OUTING PUT eae ee Prudente de Moraes 
TS OSU Re Eat ede Surinam Campos Salles 
LOOZ OM OR ran Ney anu ee teint mere ien tt Rodriguez Alves 
TOO GO Rese COROT a Te NEP Gate ncrn page Affonso Penna 
V. P., Nilo Pecanha 
OL Ose en ae net See Hermes da Fonseca 
DAE be (i aa A AA LAME Ag Wenceslao Braz 
LOTS eine Mitesh ena NNT MMe Rodriguez Alves * 
V. P., Delphim Moreira 
FOLD ana tang tate are eke a Epitacio Pessoa * 
TOD ese sane ge nny. Mar Bae Arthur Bernardes 


W. A. WADDELL 


1 Vice president who succeeded to the presidency. 
2 Jll and unable to take office. 
38 Elected under Brazilian law to finish term of Alves, Moreira 


CHAPTER XVI 
HISTORY OF THE BRAZIL MISSIONS 


N the early establishment of Portuguese colonies 
in Brazil, the French Huguenots and Dutch 
Calvinists appeared as rivals in Rio de Janeiro and 
Pernambuco. ‘Their efforts can scarcely be called 
missionary, although it was to the Church of Per- 
nambuco that the Dutch trading post of New 
Amsterdam owed its first minister: His health 
failed in the tropics and he was transferred to the 
cooler climate of the North. ‘The churches es- 
tablished by these invaders disappeared with their 
expulsion. Very little seems to have been done to 
present the truth to the Portuguese population, and 
those who accepted the message found it expedient 
to retire with the invaders. 

During the entire colonial period, missionary 
work was impossible in Brazil. ‘The dominance of 
the Roman Catholic Church and policing by means 
of the Inquisition were absolute. 

With the first beginnings of independence the 
country was opened to liberal influence. Unfor- 
tunately the United States was not at that time in 
a position to carry on extensive missionary work, 
and its nascent Missions in the Orient were calling 
for more resources than were available. The first 
visits to Brazil were made by representatives of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1836, in Rio de 

335 


336 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Janeiro. This work was abandoned in 1842. It 
had been almost entirely among the English and 
American residents and seamen, no regular services 
in Portuguese having been attempted. Mr. 
Daniel P. Kidder, one of the two missionaries, 
worked in connection with the Bible Society, and 
his work was continued by others. 

In the early fifties, Rev. J. C. Fletcher, a Presby- 
terian, worked for a short time. He established a 
peculiar relation with the emperor and afterwards 
entered the diplomatic service. 

The first permanent work was begun by Dr. 
Robert R. Kalley, a Scotch physician who had 
carried on a remarkable work in Madeira from 
1842 to 1846. Driven thence by persecution, he 
provided for his fellow exiles in various parts of 
the world and reached Rio de Janeiro in the end 
of 1854, beginning his work in Petropolis in 1855. 
His first work in Rio de Janeiro was begun in 1858. 
His work is continued by the Congregational 
Church, but has never had the support of any of 
the great missionary societies. 

The first Presbyterian missionary, Rev. A. G. 
Simonton, landed in Rio de Janeiro in August, 
1859. In July, 1860, he was joined by Rev. A. L. 
Blackford, D.D., and by Rev. F. J. Schneider in 
1861. Rev. G. W. Chamberlain joined them in 
1866, and the first single ladies, Misses Dascomb 
and Greenway, in 1869. The first preaching hall, 
in the third story of a building rented by H. M. 
Lane, at that time a merchant in Rio de Janeiro, 
was opened in May, 1861. ‘The first audience con- 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 337 





sisted of Lane and two men to whom instruction in 
- English had been given. At the next meeting a 
fourth appeared. At the third the number reached 
six; and the work has gone on across the years. 

In January, 1862, the first Presbyterian church 
of Rio de Janeiro was organized, with one of the 
attendants of the first Portuguese service and an 
American professing their faith. In 1864 a jour- 
nal, the Imprensa Evangelica, was begun. In 
October, 1863, Sao Paulo was occupied as a 
Mission Station, Mr. Simonton removing thither. 

Extracts from Dr. Simonton’s Journal which de- 
scribe his first service in Brazil in English in 1859; 
his first service in Portuguese in 1860; the baptism 
of the first members of the church in 1862; and the 
loss which he sustained in the death of his wife in 
1864, follow. 


Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 31st, 1859. 


“On Sabbath I held my first service on board 
the John Adams. Captain Mason sent his boat for 
me and after a brisk row of about five miles we 
mounted her side and found everything prepared 
for the service. ‘he audience numbered nearly two 
hundred and were very attentive. The singing was 
weak under my leading. I was greatly pleased to 
have an opportunity to open my mouth to so many 
who were not privileged to hear the Gospel regu- 
larly. Kean and several of his men were among 
the audience. I appointed another service for that 
day two weeks. 

“T visited on the 29th the Saude with Mrs, G. 


338 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





and made the acquaintance of several of Christ’s 
humble followers. I have had a conversation with 
Dr. Kalley. He thinks this mission timely and 
that American missionaries are the proper persons 
to prosecute it because their Minister and Consul 
can give them protection and the English are in- 
efficient. He urges secrecy in my movements and 
thinks it would be well for societies prosecuting 
missions in Popish countries to have a secret serv- 
ice fund." He thinks that the time has come for 
preaching in Portuguese and that already there 
are some ready to suffer for Christ. As to holding 
a service for the Americans he inclines to think it 
unadvisable. I cannot in this agree with him. I 
think besides being useful to them I can thereby 
get an intrenched position and secure their in- 
fluence on my side. My presence here and purpose 
cannot be hid and therefore my hope les in the 
protection of God and in the use of all prudent 
means of defence. The future cannot be foreseen 
and I therefore strive to secure the guidance of 
infinite wisdom and submit myself in all things to 
His direction. 

“TI feel encouraged by the aspect of things here 
and hopeful for the future. There are indications 
that a way is being opened here for the Gospel. 


1 Dr. Kalley was under the impressions caused by the destruction 
of his work in Madeira, a persecution organized by the bishop under 
laws that, while obsolete, had never been repealed, causing the exile 
of some thousands of new Protestants and the destruction of Dr. 
Kalley’s house. It is interesting to remember that one of the most 
popular of Brazilian hymns, “ Here We Suffer Affliction,” was 
written by Dr. Kalley on board an English ship in the harbor by 
the light of his burning home. 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 339 





April 28th, 1860. 


“Last Sabbath, the 22nd, I held a Sabbath 
school in my own house. It was my first Portu- 
guese service. Kubank’s children were all present 
and Amalia and Mareoguinas Knaack. The 
Bible, a catechism of sacred history, and Bunyan’s 
Pilgrim’s Progress were our textbooks. 

“Letters from home to my satisfaction promise 
the arrival of Lille and Blackford at an earlier 
date than was first announced. Now that all is 
ready for their reception I long to see them. The 
yellow fever is still prevalent. ‘The deaths re- 
ported are still twelve or fifteen a day. 


January 14th, 1862. 


“The week of prayer is past. I trust that God’s 
people everywhere lifted up fervent supplications 
for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that the 
Kingdom of Christ may be established in the 
earth in these troublous times. I explained to 
the Portuguese who attended my service the 
recommendation to observe this week and the 
impression produced upon them seemed to be 
very good. 


“On Sabbath, the 12th, we celebrated the Lord’s 
Supper, receiving by the profession of their faith 
Henry KE. Milford and Cordoso Camillo to Jesus. 
This is our organization into a church of Jesus 
Christ in Brazil. It was an occasion for joy and 
gladness. Far sooner than my weak faith had been 


340 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


expecting, God has given us to see the first fruits 
of our mission gathered in. I felt grateful in some 
measure though net to the extent which is becom- 
ing. The Communion services were conducted by 
Mr. Schneider and myself in English and Portu- 
guese. Senhor Cordoso at his own request and in 
accordance with the course judged best by our- 
selves after much thought and some hesitation, was 
baptised. His examination was most satisfactory 
to Mr. Schneider and myself and left no doubt 
upon our minds with respect to the reality of his 
conversion. 

“God be thanked that our feeble faith has been 
confirmed by seeing that it is not in vain that we 
preach the Gospel. 


Castle Hill, Sunday, 19th of June, 1864. 
“Our first child is just born at eleven o’clock 
and it is now twenty-five minutes past. God be 
praised for His goodness. He heard and answered 
our prayers and I will praise Him for His good- 
ness. ‘The remembrance of Helen’s sufferings is 
yet too vivid to permit me to think of the child. 


Tuesday, June 28th, 1864. 

“ God be merciful to me now for the deep waters 
have now come in upon me. Helen lies in her 
coffin in the little parlor. God has taken her so 
suddenly that I walk as in a dream. 


July Ist, 1864. 
“T have just returned from a short walk with 
Chamberlain. How changed is all around me and 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 341 





within me. Yet the Lord has afflicted me and I 
must be still. I do feel that He has also upheld 
me so that I have not been utterly overcome. 
Unless I do bow submissively under this blow, I 
feel that it must harden me. My God and Savior 
keep me and my little Helen. Poor little thing, I 
am not yet conscious of more than caring for her. 

“Though so sudden I am rejoiced to know that 
death found my dear wife ready. She was diffi- 
dent and distrustful of self, slow to express as- 
surance of her being in Christ, yet in the hour of 
her trial she was calm and peaceful. When at 
8 a.M. I returned from the doctor she asked, ‘ How 
am I? Conceal nothing from me.’ I told her my 
fears. She said, ‘ Pray for me,’ but added quickly, 
‘No, I will pray for myself.’ Quietly and calmly 
she prayed in language nearly this, * Lord Jesus, 
I come to Thee, not that I have any worthiness, I 
feel I have none. Have mercy upon me and re- 
ceive me, Lord Jesus.’ I then prayed as I could. 
Soon after she said, “I believe I want to go.’ 
During my absence she said to Louisa, who was 
crying, ‘ Louisa, don’t be concerned. I am ready.’ 
I bless God that the suddenness of this blow has 
not bereft me of precious words of consolation and 
of this testimony that her Savior was with her in 
the dark valley. ‘God is not the God of the dead, 
but of the living,’ is a Scripture that is very 
precious to me now more than ever. The union 
of all saints to Christ, and through Him with the 
Father, and their communion with one another, are 
facts full of consolation.” 


342 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





The Rev. Eduardo Carlos Pereira, a distin- 
guished Brazilian pastor, wrote of Dr. Chamber- 
lain, who was associated with Dr. Simonton in 
pioneer service: 

‘Both in the populous cities as well as in the 
inhospitable regions of the back-woods; from Rio 
Grande do Sul to the villages of Minas and Bahia 
along the Sao Francisco River; before a calm and 
attentive audience or facing a turbulent mob agi- 
tated by bloody fanaticism; the strong, convincing 
voice of this intrepid evangelist could be heard, 
proclaiming to sinners of all classes the saving 
grace of his God and his Lord... . 

“Our church edifice (the First Presbyterian 
Church of Sao Paulo, of which Mr. Chamberlain 
was acting pastor for twenty years) as well as the 
Presbyterian Church of Rio, the E'schola Ameri- 
cana and Mackenzie College (in Sao Paulo) are 
enduring monuments which proclaim the inde- 
fatigable energy and fiery zeal of the man who now 
rests from his labors.” 

In the year that Sao Paulo was occupied the mis- 
sionaries got into contact with Jose Manoel da Con- 
ceicao, ex-vicar of Brotas, in Sao Paulo. He 
was a remarkably intelligent and forceful man 
who as a Catholic priest had been very much 
given to horse racing and gambling. Being in- 
vited to preach a festa sermon on Saint Anthony, 
and wanting to escape from the banalities which 
ordinarily formed sermons of that type, he tried to 
find the story of the saint in the Latin Bible which 
by some accident existed in the priests’ room of his 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 348 


church. It took a long search to convince him that 
Anthony had not been mentioned in the Scriptures 
and in the course of it he found a large number of 
doctrines and facts that he had never met before. 
He began to preach these to his congregation and 
suspended his Sunday racing. The bishop investi- 
gated the case and decided that he must be insane. 
His reply was: “ Very well. If I am insane, then 
I am irresponsible and I am going out to talk just 
what I believe.” This he started to do, going 
about the country, depending entirely upon the 
hospitality or inhospitality of the people for his 
support, preaching everywhere the gospel as he 
understood it. Had this been ten years before, it 
would have been a flash in the pan and nothing 
would have come of it, but Mr. Simonton had 
reached Sao Paulo and gave him the backing of 
his organization. Father Conceicao never con- | 
formed himself to regular methods of work. It 
was amusing to hear the old-time missionaries tell 
how a plan of campaign would be mapped out, in- 
volving his going hither and yon, this plan being 
talked over with him with no assent or dissent save 
occasional grunts; then the next morning it would 
be discovered that he had taken his staff and started 
a hike entirely of his own devising. He was perse- 
cuted in every possible way. Once he appeared 
as if by resurrection. On this occasion he was 
shoved off the market place and stoned to death, 
as his assailants believed, at the side of a little 
brook. Coming to, he washed the blood out of his 
eyes, got his staff, and returned to the market 


344 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





place to resume his preaching. With a shout, “ He 
has come to life; he was surely dead!” the greater 
part of his audience fled, leaving him to preach 
to half a dozen whose courage was sufficient to 
enable them to face the risen one. Everywhere he 
went, little groups accepted the gospel and the mis- 
sionaries following up his work were able to or- 
ganize them into churches and make them the seed 
of a vast harvest. His death was as heroic as his : 
life. He fell by the wayside, ill with fever, when 
a workman picked him up and took him to the 
hospital of the National Gunpowder Factory which 
was near by and reported to the colonel in com- 
mand that a sick man was talking Latin. The 
colonel went to see him and he came to himself, 
before he died, long enough to preach Christ to his 
involuntary host, and the colonel became one of the 
outstanding men of Brazilian Protestantism. So 
in life and in death Conceicao bore witness to the - 
saving power of Christ in Brazil. 

It is largely due to Padre Conceicao’s methods 
of penetration, which were linked up by Simonton’s 
and Chamberlain’s evangelistic efforts, that the 
Church in Brazil escaped the period of Mission 
overorganization which has been detrimental to the 
cause in many places. Conceicao and Chamberlain 
covered so much country that it was utterly impos- 
sible to establish regular services with the Sunday 
sermons, a ‘Thursday evening meeting, and the 
other paraphernalia of North American religious 
expression in each place where they had awakened 
interest, 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 345 





A group system in the hands of the natural lead- 
ers of the people, with occasional visits by the 
evangelists, became the only method by which the 
work could be handled, and its capacity for exten- 
sion thus became augmented indefinitely. 

Conceicao died in 1873 and by that time the 
whole western and northwestern edge of the great 
developing coffee field of Sao Paulo had been 
occupied by scattered groups of believers and half 
a dozen churches had been organized. School work 
was begun in Rio Claro in the ’60’s and in Sao 
Paulo in 1871: in the one case, to provide for 
orphan and destitute children; in the other, to pro- 
vide education for the children of Protestants who 
were persecuted in the public schools. In 1871, 
Bahia was occupied as a Mission Station and work 
began in central Brazil. In 1884, the state of 
Parana, to the south of Sao Paulo, was entered. 
In 1869, missionaries of the Southern Presbyterian 
Church came out and occupied Campinas, about 
70 miles from the city of Sao Paulo, as their cen- 
ter, and undertook to care for the work along the 
Mogyana Railroad, then planned into the interior 
from that point. In 1873, the Southern Church 
occupied Pernambuco and thence extended its work 
through the northern states of Brazil. 

In 1888, the Missions of the Northern and 
Southern Churches came together, forming the 
National Presbyterian Church of Brazil, independ- 
ent of the mother Churches. By this time the 
Northern Church had gathered into its Missions 
2,098, and the Southern Church, 509 Church mem- 


346 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





bers. ‘The Church thus formed developed with 
reasonable rapidity, certainly as rapidly as was 
consistent with the consolidation of the Christian 
sentiment of its members. 

From the time of the ordination of the first 
Brazilians, the native ministers discussed among 
themselves their proper relation to the Board. A 
section of them, led by a most scholarly and lovable 
man, held that by ordination they should become 
members of the Missions and should be entitled to 
voice and vote on all questions, including those re- 
lated to funds, equally with the American mission- 
aries. Another group, led by a most vigorous and 
convincing pastor, held that the Mission was an 
abnormal Presbyterian organization and should 
disappear, giving place to the presbytery, and that 
all the affairs which had been handled by the Mis- 
sions should pass to the care of the presbytery. 
The fact that the first leader had great personal 
influence with the missionaries and the second 
almost unquestioned leadership among the elders 
possibly accounts for their different views as to the 
preferable organization. This question inevitably 
became mixed with antipathies among the mission- 
aries, originating in Civil War questions in the 
United States and intensified by the abolition 
struggle in Brazil, which rendered it impossible for 
the missionaries to present to their Brazilian breth- 
ren the example of Christian solidarity which was 
very much to be desired. ‘The result was a tend- 
ency to ecclesiastic politics that did not increase the 
growth of the Church. However, comparatively 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 34:7 





few gave much attention to these things and the 
rank and file of the Church strove earnestly for the 
extension of the Kingdom. 

In 1891, with a view to clarifying the situation, 
the missionaries in Brazil, without one dissenting 
voice (two or three failed to sign the document for 
other reasons than dissent), agreed to retire from 
the native Church, separating, thus, Mission ques- 
tions from Church questions and leaving the Brazil- 
ians to settle their own questions as they saw fit. 
This movement was not finally approved by the 
Board, however, until several years later. 

After various turns, in the first years of the 
twentieth century, the controversy took a new 
phase. The leader of the nationalistic movement 
discovered that Masonic influences were being used 
to detach members of his party. Jatin American 
Masonry is very different from the North American 
brand. In its secular contest with the Church of 
Rome it has assumed a quasi religious attitude, 
different from anything known in the United 
States. It was not difficult to make out a theo- 
retical prima-facie case against Masonry and the 
neutral and Masonic elements in the Church were 
foolish enough to forbid the discussion of the sub- 
ject. This added fuel to the flames and in 1908, at 
the triennial meeting of the General Synod, the 
schism came. A group of native ministers, with 
the strongest churches of the great Sao Paulo 
region and considerable elements in nearly every 
part of Brazil, separated from their brethren and 
the missionary element. The North American 


348 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


Churches immediately took the position that since 
there was no unsoundness in the faith in the case 
no opposition should be made to the new 
Church. 

Perhaps the strongest proof that has been given 
of the divine presence in the Church in Brazil was 
the fact that despite the ruthlessness with which 
men devoted themselves through the schism to the 
destruction of true Christianity, it somehow man- 
aged to worry along, and by and by the anvil wore 
out the hammer and things became normal. 

In the twenty-two years since the schism, the in- 
dependent Church has developed in numbers and 
resources at about the same rate as the larger frac- 
tion, possibly more rapidly in the districts where 
the two are in close contact, the heaviest growth 
of the synodical Church having been in new mis- 
sionary districts. In 1923, the General Assembly 
of the Presbyterian Church reported 21,000 mem- 
bers; the independent Presbyterian Church about 
10,000 members. 

Shortly after the schism, missionary work in the 
states of Bahia and Sergipe reached the point of 
organizing a presbytery. ‘The Mission proposed 
to the new presbytery a modus operandi along 
essentially the following lines: (1) The mission- 
aries would not be members of the presbytery save 
as it might be necessary in the earlier days to main- 
tain a quorum. (2) The field should be divided 
between the presbytery and the Mission on the 
basis of the Mission, as the older body, being re- 
sponsible for the entire field save those portions 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 349 


which had been separated to. the care of the presby- 
tery. (38) All congregations, with the reasonable 
evangelistic districts surrounding them, which had 
passed to the care of national pastors, should con- 
stitute the presbytery’s field. As fast as congre- 
gations were in shape to be put in the care of 
national ministers, they would be passed over to the 
presbytery. The Mission would assist at the time 
of this transfer to the extent of fifty per cent of the 
pastor’s salary, diminishing this aid one tenth 
annually until extinction. The assistance was 
granted to the field and had nothing to do with the 
person of the pastor. It was suspended in case of 
vacancy. The Mission would not employ an or- 
dained Brazilian in its work unless by a special 
arrangement with the presbytery for a definite 
service and a short period of time. Mutual assist- 
ance between the missionaries and Brazilian pastors 
would be governed by the ordinary customs of 
ministerial courtesy. The Mission would be repre- 
sented by one of its members (without vote) at the 
meetings of the presbytery and similarly the 
presbytery at meetings of the Mission. In either 
case executive sessions for the treatment of per- 
sonal questions might be held without the presence 
of the delegate. 

This plan commended itself to the Church at 
large and substantially was adopted at a later date 
by the Church codperating with the missionaries. 

Of late years, a strong movement toward the 
reunion of the separated Churches has developed, 
which in time undoubtedly will prevail. The Gen- 


350 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which 
convened in Pernambuco in 1924 was the first at 
which no missionary was present as a delegate. 
The deliberations of the Assembly and the results 
adopted did not yield in wisdom to those of any 
previous meeting and have been carried into effect 
with more vigor and greater unanimity than those 
of any previous assembly. 

In 1874 the Methodist Church South began mis- 
sion work in Brazil, occupying the principal points 
on the railroad between Sao Paulo and Rio and 
an extensive district along the Central Railroad of 
Brazil, in the heart of Minas Geraes, and also a 
district around Piracicaba, in the state of Sao 
Paulo. Workers using Spanish had crossed the 
border of Rio Grande do Sul from the Northern 
Methodist work in Uruguay and Argentina, min- 
istering to scattered Argentinos and Uruguayos. 
Very soon they passed to the use of Portuguese, 
addressing themselves to the general population, 
and in an adjustment between the two home 
Churches, the work was transferred to the southern 
branch. The work has radiated from these centers 
in all directions and developed greatly. ‘There are 
at present three conferences. At the time of the 
difficulties in the Presbyterian Church, agitation 
extended to the Methodist Church, but a very large 
recognition of the Brazilian element averted any 
serious results. 

The Southern Baptists entered the field in 1881 
and have extended their work to practically every 
part of Brazil reached by the workers of other 


HISTORY OF BRAZIL MISSIONS 351 





denominations. They claim a large membership 
and a long roll of churches. 

The American Episcopal Church sent out mis- 
sionaries in 1883. With a Christian courtesy 
which cannot be too highly commended, they were 
directed to enter into contact with the workers 
already on the field and to endeavor to secure for 
their work a district otherwise unoccupied. At 
that time the state of Rio Grande do Sul contained 
only a single Presbyterian church founded by an 
independent missionary, and two or three Northern 
Methodist churches still supposedly Spanish and 
not connected with any organization in Brazil. 
The suggestion was made that they occupy a dis- 
trict in this state. A little later, more workers 
being sent out, the Presbyterian church was passed 
to their care, and for many years they limited their 
operations to that state. Recently they have 
opened work in the capital of the republic and in 
the cities of Santos and Sao Paulo. In general 
their work had been most successful. 

Various independent workers have made at- 
tempts in Brazil. One only, through the after 
adoption of his work by the Evangelical Union for 
South America, succeeded in founding work of 
some stability. The work of the Union extends 
from Sao Paulo into the state of Goyaz. 

Various attempts have been made to develop 
work among the uncivilized Indians of Brazil. 
Most of them have been dismal failures because the 
workers knew nothing of tropical life, and less 
about the Indians. Several deaths among the 


352 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





workers have testified equally to their devoted spirit 
and their lack of common sense. At present 
groups of workers are engaged among the Indians 
of Matto Grosso on a saner basis and with promise 


of more satisfactory results. 
W. A. WADDELL 


CHAPTER XVII 
EDUCATION IN BRAZIL 


ODERN readers cannot appreciate the lack 
of education in Europe when the settlement 
of Brazil began. During the century that passed 
before the first Anglo-Saxon settlements in North 
America, the entire Reformation struggle and the 
beginning of the counterreform, both essentially 
educational in their nature, had intervened, and the 
Mayflower party could draw up, discuss, and sign 
a civic compact which, from their point of view, 
left very little to be desired, while it is doubtful if 
any considerable part of any group of settlers in 
Brazil, one hundred years earlier, could have read, 
signed, or discussed such a document. 

In 1500 the literate class was very small. A 
good many priests and a few civil functionaries 
could read and write. Distinguished men some- 
times could read and generally could make a fear- 
ful and wonderful drawing which, when done with 
bad ink and a badly made quill pen, surpassed any 
modern effort at bad writing and was called 
their signature. Join to this variegated spelling 
and the tendency to abbreviate words, and you can 
see that at this dawn of the printed book, writing 
was indeed a black art. The Middle Ages had 
developed endless patience in the working of stone 
and a rule-of-thumb architectural engineering, by 

353 


354 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





which wonderful results were attained, but art had 
developed only along these lines. All the industry 
of the time is characterized more by endless pa- 
tience of attempt than by anything approaching 
quantity production. Any modern insurance com- 
pany would classify as attempted suicide an ocean 
voyage in one of the ships with which Vasco da 
Gama opened the road to the Orient, and although 
the authors of the period wax eloquent in their 
description of the great ships of India, the history 
of their voyages is more remarkable as showing 
how much flesh and blood can endure than as a 
maritime record. 

It was in this twilight of the gods, when the 
modern age was just dawning, that Brazilian 
settlements were begun, and the settlers did not 
grade high in this educational scale. From the 
first, the priests of various orders, especially the 
Jesuits, interested themselves in education, but we 
should not allow modern ideas to picture for us the 
schools they established. Often a school founded 
in connection with the Church will be found to have 
limited its curriculum to teaching by rote the cate- 
chism and the “ divine service,” which, like Chau- 
cer’s prioress, they “entuned”’ in the nose “ full 
seemly,” without any ability to recognize the words 
on paper or to understand their meaning. It is 
mentioned with surprise that a very advanced and 
evangelical bishop insisted upon the choir boys’ 
understanding the meaning of what they said and 
sang. For some of the boys, at least, reading and 
writing would be added and Latin would follow 


EDUCATION IN BRAZIL 355 





inevitably. The cultivation of the vernacular was 
despised even after Camoes magnificent work had 
dignified the language. Latin, as opening the 
stored information of the ages, was of vast im- 
portance. 

The isolation caused by the establishment of 
large plantations, and the constant service of the 
leading men in bandeiras and other military enter- 
prises (it may be said that until the end of the 
Dutch wars in 1654, Brazil was always in a state of 
war), prevented the extension to Brazil of the great 
development which in these same generations mani- 
fested itself in Europe. 

It must be admitted that there was very little to 
attract men to studies. ‘The Church had taken a 
position of suspicion toward all investigation and 
even toward literary development. ‘There was 
- practically no religious dissent in Brazil, but there 
was a strong hostility to the Church and especially 
to the Jesuits. Since priestly teaching had arro- 
gated to itself the whole round of thought, it was 
very difficult for a man to study anything without 
finding some fact contrary to priestly teaching, and 
the sure reward of any progress was free trans- 
portation to Portugal and residence in the dun- 
geons of the Inquisition. It is inexpressibly sad 
to read the annals and find mention of youths who 
developed some literary spirit, with the slightly 
varied closing phrase: “In... he incurred the 
suspicion of the Holy Office and was arrested and 
held prisoner for . . . years, and thereafter wrote 


2? 66 


no more,” “ was imprisoned in Rio de Janeiro, sent 


356 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





y) 


to Portugal, and died in the dungeons,” or “ was 
sent into perpetual exile in . . . where he died in 
a short time.” The definite and inevitable snuffing 
out of all who in any way incurred the suspicion of 
the Holy Office effectively squelched any tendency 
toward educational development save in the priestly 
fold and along lines of complete orthodoxy. ‘Thus 
it came to pass that although the awakening in- 
fluence of the New World unquestionably pro- 
duced its effect among the settlers and their de- 
scendants, no adequate expression of this became 
possible in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
No educational institution has come down to us 
from the first three hundred years of Brazilian 
history except as the choir schools have developed 
into diocesan theological seminaries. 

The failure to develop local institutions forced 
the wealthy, who desired that their children should 
share the world’s progress, to send their sons to 
Portugal, and created a much closer educational 
dependence upon the metropolis than existed be- 
tween the North American colonies and Great Brit- 
ain. But only the rich could study in Portugal. 
This rapidly developed an aristocracy of learning, 
which, joined to the increase of the servile class 
and the impossibility of anyone’s attaining distinc- 
tion through education alone, distributed the popu- 
lation into three classes: a vast mass of illiterates of 
varying intelligence; a very small group of, for the 
time, highly educated literati; and a larger but still 
small class of semiliterates of considerable natural 
intelligence. Throughout the eighteenth century 


EDUCATION IN BRAZIL 357 





there was intellectual ferment, but no institutional 
growth. 

When in 1808 the royal family of Portugal fled 
from Lisbon to Brazil and established itself in Rio 
de Janeiro, and the Brazilian ports, which pre- 
viously had been subjected to Portuguese monop- 
oly, were opened to the world, Brazil had no school 
system. Each bishopric had its school for at least 
the partial preparation of priests; various monas- 
teries maintained boarding and day schools; a few 
of the wealthy families provided for the household 
education of their children, and prosperous neigh- 
borhoods, working through the clergy or indi- 
viduals, provided primary education for the chil- 
dren of some well-to-do families. There were a few 
professional men who had studied abroad, some of 
them in France but for the greater part in Portu- 
gal, and there was a not very strong tendency on 
the part of these men to diminish for others the 
difficulties that they themselves had experienced in 
obtaining preparation. 

With the opening of the ports, new life de- 
veloped all over the country. Even during the re- 
mainder of the Portuguese rule, popular instruc- 
tion made a great stride forward, an engineering 
school was established in Rio de Janeiro and when 
in 1822 independence was proclaimed, it was at 
once seen that if political independence were to be 
maintained, educational independence must be es- 
tablished. 

It was at this period that Jose Bonifacio de 
Andrada e Silva, the great Brazilian patriot, made 


358 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





a speech on the educational needs of the country, 
which being read, in translation, by the boy, John 
Theoron Mackenzie, led, seventy years later, to 
his gift which rendered possible the development 
of Mackenzie College. 

Steps were at once taken for the foundation of 
professional schools, law schools in Sao Paulo and 
Pernambuco, medical schools in Rio de Janeiro 
and a school of mines at Ouro Preto. Schools of 
pharmacy were attached to the medical schools and 
dental schools were added later. ‘These schools ex- 
tended their courses downward to the lowest studies 
pertaining to the profession. For example, the 
medical course included general chemistry, general 
biology, and general physics. Preparation was ob- 
tained in the gymnasia which accepted pupils as 
young as ten years of age with about five years of 
primary- -school preparation. These gymnasia 
gave a six-year course, corresponding to the gram- 
mar and high school of the American system, with 
classes in sciences and philosophy in the upper 
years corresponding to Steele’s Fourteen Weeks 
in American high schools of 1870. The American 
college is unknown to the system, being in part 
substituted by these studies in the high-school 
course, and in part by prestudies of the profes- 
sional courses. With modifications this system has 
continued until the present time. 

At the same time a public-school system was or- 
ganized. Little was attempted beyond writing and 
reading and the most elementary number work. 
Sewing and embroidery were taught to the girls, 


EDUCATION IN BRAZIL 359 





while a very active school-teacher might extend the 
work of the boys into geography and a bit of his- 
tory. The parish-priest was ex officio school inspec- 
tor. Study was often carried on at the top of the 
lungs, the idea of learning being to memorize the 
textbook. Little or no attention was given to 
the preparation of teachers and the appointments 
were political rewards. As late as 1870 public- 
school teachers were dismissed on the ground that 
they could neither read nor write. ‘The opposition 
journals did not dispute the facts, but said that 
gross partisanship was shown since others who were 
in the same condition were retained. In 1910 
there was at least one public-school teacher in the 
interior of Bahia who in over twenty years of serv- 
ice had never held a class and had never been known 
to read or to write more than his own name. There 
were, of course, many devoted teachers and much 
good work was done. 

No attempt whatever was made to link the public 
schools with the professional schools. A model 
gymnasium, or high school, the Dom Pedro II, was 
organized in Rio de Janeiro, and cursos annexos 
were attached to the various professional schools. 
In these, students of any origin who brought certifi- 
cates signed by persons of titular proficiency could 
take examinations for admission to the professional 
schools. Consequently private schools grew up of- 
fering all kinds of instruction, in a general sense 
preparatory to professional study. ‘This was the 
condition until the end of the empire. 

The fall of the empire and the coming into power 


360 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


of the thoughtful men who had brought about abo- 
lition and the establishment of the republic, caused 
an immense wave of enthusiasm for the cause of 
instruction. Cesario Motta, in Sao Paulo, became 
the leader in that state. His well-known phrase, 
“The republic is universal instruction or ruin,” set 
the note of effort. Immediate attempt was made 
to reorganize the public schools and extend the 
possibilities of higher education. For twenty years 
the North American Missions had maintained 
schools which by their efficiency had gained the 
respect of the people. The director of the Pres- 
byterian Board School in Sao Paulo, Dr. H. M. 
Lane, had a wonderful aptitude for seizing the es- 
sential and the transferable of the American system 
and translating it into its Brazilian equivalent. 
He became the confidential adviser of the repub- 
lican leaders and the school system of Sao Paulo 
was organized on the model of the school he di- 
rected. ‘Teachers were lent by his school who 
organized the first model schools associated with the 
newly organized normal schools, and the whole 
system took on the American form. This has ex- 
tended from state to state, primary education hav- 
ing been left principally in the hands of the state, 
and has reached practically all Brazil. 

At this time the formation of so-called free, as 
distinguished from official, professional schools was 
permitted, and several were organized. Mackenzie 
College came under this class. ‘The states estab- 
lished gymnasia, high schools, and private schools 
were admitted to share their privileges under cer- 


EDUCATION IN BRAZIL 361 


tain conditions. In 1910 the Law Rivadavia was 
enacted, which practically conceded to all private 
establishments equal rights with the Government 
schools. This having been found pernicious, in 
1915 a new law was enacted which turned in the 
direction of the first republican law, but did not 
permit the extension of official privileges to private 
secondary schools. Provision was made, however, 
for examining their pupils. In the present year, 
1925, a new reform has been promulgated, dis- 
tinctly reactionary on the one hand, in that it ex- 
acts absolute conformity to a standard type on the 
part of all schools that desire Government exami- 
nations and in that the type adopted is distinctly 
old-fashioned, and on the other hand progressive, 
since it enacts many desirable reforms in organi- 
zation. 

During all this time there has been a tremendous 
growth in education. At the incoming of the repub- 
lic one sixth of the people of Brazil nominally could 
read and write. Many of them had learned as chil- 
dren, but through disuse, for there were few books 
and fewer journals in the interior, had lost the 
ability. Perhaps one tenth were really literate. 
During these thirty-five years the proportion prob- 
ably has grown to one fourth, or at least that is the 
impression general among those best informed. In 
other words, literacy has gained 150 per cent in 
thirty-five years, and is gaining in accelerated ratio. 


W. A. WADDELL. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


ADVANCE PROGRAM AND NEEDS OF THE 
BRAZIL MISSIONS 


T the meeting of the South Brazil Mission, 
held January 27 to February 6, 1925, and of 
the Central Brazil Mission, held May 11-15, 1925, 
when the delegation was present, the probable 
property needs for several years to come were 
studied and the Missions voted to approve the lists 
which are given below. Some of these items are 
included in the appeal for the 1925 Christmas of- 
fering of the Presbyterian Sunday schools. It is 
hoped that others will be met in the Latin Ameri- 
can Campaign scheduled for 1925-1926. 
A map indicating the different Mission Stations, 
present and prospective, is placed on the opposite 
page. 


SoutH Brazit Mission 
Property List: Seven-Year Program 


Castro — Girls’ Dormitory, Instituto Chris- 
tao — Balance Needed (Already Se- 


CULE ) isis. is Mele AeA Gee | 2 $6,700 
Burity — Dormitory for School ......... 4,000 

Hlectrice-Light System (a... ee 2,000 
Goyaz — Completion of Purchase of Prop- 

OLE Ys i eee ie RN ONES NO I en 1,600 


CHAPTER XVIII 


ADVANC’1 PROGRAM AND NEEDS OF THE 
BRAZIL MISSIONS 


T the neeting of the South Brazil Mission, 
held January 27 to February 6, 1925, and of 
the Centra’ Brazil Mission, held May 11-15, 1925, 
when the lelegation was present, the probable 
property reeds for several years to come were 
studied anc the Missions voted to approve the lists 
which are ziven below. Some of these items are 
included ir the appeal for the 1925 Christmas of- 
fering of tie Presbyterian Sunday schools. It is 
hoped that others will be met in the Latin Ameri- 
can Camp:ign scheduled for 1925-1926. 
A map indicating the different Mission Stations, 
present anl prospective, is placed on the opposite 
page. 


SoutH Brazit Mission 
Property List: Seven-Year Program 


Castro — ‘szirls’ Dormitory, Instituto Chris- 
tao — Ealance Needed (Already Se- 





CUTER ) BBR aera OMe 4. Na: 0 hee $6,700 
Burity — Dormitory for School ......... 4,000 
Electri¢ Liat System io) 3). 0 2,000 
Goyaz — Completion of Purchase of Prop- 
erty. A BR I i ered 
362 




















BO Vee 


KEY TO MAP (Each dot represents 10,000 inhabitants) 


Taboleiro de Bahia. 
sought. Evangelists available. 


( 7) Matto Grosso 


. 


Wea 


Authorized by Mission; site being 


Ponte Nova. This station is completely manned, includ- 


ing doctor. 
Csrinhanha. 
except doctor, available; site being sought. 


Planalto de Goyaz, ‘‘Planaltina.’’ 


Station authorized by Mission; workers, 


Property partially 


secured; workers designated with the exception of doctor. 
Registro de Goyaz, Included in plan but no steps as yet 


taken. 

Burity, near Cuyaba. 
station manned with the exception of a doctor.’ 
West Matto Grosso. 
populated eountry. 


Property partially secured and 


Eventual station in very sparsely 


South Matto Grosso. Eventual station in very sparsely 


populated country. 

Western Station, Catharina or Parana. 
Mission; site being sought; evangelists available, 
Castro, ‘‘Instituto Christao.”’ 
manned; does not need a doctor. 


Authorized by 


This station is completely 


Note:—The locations are all approximate. A circle indicates 
that the site has not been fixed although the region has 


been indicated. 


The large ellipse on the Amazon River 


indicates the region where it is hoped that the Southern 
Presbyterian Church will establish a station with river 


steamer, 


The National Presbyterian Churches of Brazil have taken 
over the responsibility for the work of evangelization in the 
more densely populated centers, with the understanding that 
the Missions would assume responsibility for leadership in 


pioneer work in rural districts and in the interior. 





e 
° 
ed 


& 


yO 





eee 
000000 
See 


Za 


” 


oy 





MAP 


WITH PRESBYTERIAN MISSION STATIONS 
PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE 


OF BRAZIL 


° “37 Espirito Santo 








NEEDS OF THE BRAZIL MISSIONS 363 





Buildings and Farm Equipment ...... 14,000 
Pages Property for schools 2. eal. 200, 5,000 
Castro — Water Power and Extension of 

melechric-Lightrsyvstem! ney ln 3,500 
Burity — Stock, Farm Equipment, and 

"STO Oiler i i WR EMMA 2 ANON Ree ya Mee gee 4,000 
Western Parana— Property for School 

TPT see eR apie aca Om oa | LINC eg 5,000 

“TECTED oh ued age A aah a A aA a $45,800 


CENTRAL Brazit Mission 


Property List: Five-Year Program 


Group One 

For the Completion of Grace Memorial 

PiooMiraiecabe NOVA eo Nee oo was $3,000 
Sawmill for Construction Work, Ponte 

TAIT SRE kate sek li ga AE (i a a NR ASO 1,000 
Steam Tractor (Wood-Burning) to Run 

eT ee ODLEEN OV ere ene Pore) inl 2,000 
Missionary Residence for Boys’ Dormitory, 

BA COMIN V EO Nits as, oye os eb weet iets ele oe. 2,500 


Purchase of Two Houses and Land from 
the Independent Medical Work, Ponte 


ON OV RRPMEe I Paerertie elit pea los Ne pas eke ky ty 8 1,500 
Purchase of Site for Hydroelectric Plant, 
POnIEG WN OV AARNE or. ees hea ee ae rt 1) Tate 1,500 


Purchase of Farm and Property for a Sta- 
tion of the Ponte Nova Type in South- 
CURR REIT: rho pe Mie itis ONE ISR OR OU ot we Uh 5,000 


364 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Dramage.and Sanitation vee Ges, en aie 1,000 
Girls’ Dormitory and Residence for Direc- 

tor’s Family and Teachers at Ponte 

INOV A UL CRO CS RCIA Pyne 5,000 


Group ‘Two 


Purchase of Property for American School, 
Bahtav@ity he ah Mn eet ae cane $15,000 
School Equipment for Ponte Nova (Maps, 
Books for Library, Blackboards, Simple 
Laboratory equipment) e. jue. eae 1,000 
Farm Machinery for Ponte Nova (Plow, 
Dise Harrow, Corn Planter, Cultivator, 


Wagon, Emsilage Cutter) (0) ina 1,000 
Dynamo (15 K.W.K.) for Ponte Nova 

SES TIOM EW cri anya 2h vel Tis aoe ae 500 
Accessories for Electrical Equipment .... 500 
Water System and Screens for Dormito- 

PIES SNA Se SAIN VP a ae 2,500 

(otal tor Group Pwornauce. ccna $20,500 


Group Three 


Silo and Dipping Tank for Stock at Ponte 

NOV aE UIE NIM i 068 ae Ra $1,000 
Improved Live Stock for Ponte Nova 

(Bull, Jackass, Boar; Also Ten Work 

Mules ian ion cic i) ai ke On) aia 2,000 
Roads and Bridge-Building at Ponte Nova 2,000 


NEEDS OF THE BRAZIL MISSIONS 365 





Purchase of Farm and Property for a Sta- 
tion of the Ponte Nova Type in Northeast 
PEST) ee Ou ate dice tak ty) ee IA 5,000 


Bias 


SD Ge 
‘ ‘ A ea i" ud 
th ah " ; 


va Yo oe 


Pas eh a " 


( AD AAT 


bya ae "ay, 
Pewee Anitat, 


r M4 vA ui y ‘ 
ay em Ip 
Ain 4 W 


cn 


L 
¥ 


hee ik atin Lis 
. ae rag : 
AT Peon 


fia ’ 
/ i cat ai . 
yee! 
; ad “0 





PART III 


THE MONTEVIDEO CONGRESS AND 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 
SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONS 





CHAPTER I 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK IN SOUTH 
AMERICA 


HE Congress on Christian Work in South 

_ America, which met in Montevideo, Uru- 
guay, March 29 to April 8, 1925, brought together 
representatives of practically all the evangelical 
agencies which are at work in South America. It 
was called a congress rather than a conference be- 
cause the word conferencia in South America 
means, not what it means with us, but a single lec- 
ture or address. It was called, “ Congress on 
Christian Work” rather than ‘“ Missionary Con- 
gress,” because, as will appear, it was primarily a 
congress not of missionaries or missionary secre- 
taries but of the national evangelical churches, or 
native churches, as the South American members of 
the Congress often called them, rejecting the term 
“indigenous” because that meant the aboriginal 
Indians, and not seeking to enter into rivalry for 
the term “national” with the Roman Catholic 
Church, which in some of the South American 
countries is still the official national Church. It 
was called the “ Congress on Christian Work in 
South America,” rather than “‘ Latin America,” be- 
cause it covered South America alone and not the 
whole Latin American world. It is planned in 

369 


BO ih MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





1926 to hold a similar congress in Mexico City for 
the Latin countries about the Caribbean Sea. 

South America itself presented a field of study 
of sufficient magnitude and diversity. In area the 
continent is as large as the United States, including 
Alaska, plus the whole of Kurope. Brazil alone is 
nearly as large as Europe and is larger than Aus- 
tralia plus Germany, and Colombia, which is one of 
the smaller countries, has an area equal to Ger- 
many, France, Holland, and Belgium combined. 
In population the entire continent is less than two 
thirds the size of the United States or about one 
and a half times the population of France. Part 
of the magnitude and complexity of the economic 
and religious problems of the continent is found in 
the disproportion of its population to its area and 
resources. The population of Japan is about equal 
to that of all South America, but Japan is only one 
third the size of Venezuela, which is one of the 
smallest South American countries. 

And the problem of South America is as diverse 
asitis huge. One of the revelations of the Congress 
was the reality and the extent of this diversity. So 
much has been said of the Latin American mind 
and spirit and its attitude and ideals that many had 
assumed that there was a substantial unity justi- 
fying such utterances. And in the development of 
Christian cooperation it had been expected that the 
Congress would result in some new form of conti- 
nental action. It was made very clear, however, 
that neither Latin America nor South America can 
be truthfully conceived in these unitary terms. 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 371 


Brazil in area, language, development of the evan- 
gelical churches and schools, is in a situation of its 
own. ‘The three republics of the Rio de la Plata, 
as another distinct /group, differ among themselves 
and differ from all the rest of South America. 
There are wide diversities between the east and 
west coast countries and on the west coast itself the - 
differences are equally great. The national types 
differ throughout South America, due to diverse 
ancestral stocks and to diverse social conditions, 
while the widest diversities are found between coun- 
tries like Uruguay and Chile, where the social and 
economic movements are far advanced, and coun- 
tries like Bolivia and Colombia, where they have 
not begun. Indeed, the delegation at Montevideo 
from Colombia and Venezuela said that they felt 
they were in a strange world and that it was clear 
to them that their relations lay with the other Carib- 
bean countries and not with South America. In the 
relation of the state to the Roman Catholic Church 
and to religion, the South American countries pre- 
sent also the widest possible divergencies, from the 
concordat between the Church and the state in 
Colombia, which gives the Church a great politi- 
cal and educational ascendency, to the complete 
severance of relationships and the abjugation of 
Church influence in Uruguay, with half a dozen in- 
tervening stages in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and 
other lands. If ever a Congress was needed to 
think out and provide for the fundamental unities 
of interest and duty of the evangelical forces in 
neighboring lands, and also their diversities and 


372 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





distinctions of task and responsibility, it was needed 
at this time in South America. 

The Congress was one of many outcomes of the 
effort of the evangelical agencies at work in Latin 
America to deal -with their work effectively and 
unitedly. This effort was itself the result of the 
omission of work in Latin America from the con- 
sideration of the Edinburgh Missionary Confer- 
ence. The American societies were at first strong 
in their conviction that the Latin American field 
should be included at Edinburgh, but they waived 
that conviction, or at any rate they refrained from 
insisting upon it, in view of what they believed were 
the largest interests of the Edinburgh gathering. 
Immediately afterwards, however, they proceeded 
to provide in a special way for the study and de- 
velopment of the work in Latin America. ‘They 
held a special conference on the subject in New 
York in March, 1913, which appointed a small com- 
mittee “ to deal with the whole subject of the work 
in Latin America and especially with the question 
of cooperation and to make any presentations they 
may deem desirable to the Boards.” 'This commit- 
tee, enlarged to embrace representatives of all the 
Boards at work in Mexico proposed the plans which 
the Boards and Missions subsequently adopted for 
the complete codperative reorganization of the 
work in Mexico after its political and social revo- 
lution. The next steps were a communication 
from the committee to all the workers in Latin 
America, proposing a new program of codpera- 
tion especially in education and literature, the 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 3873 





employment of a full-time secretary in Rev. S. G. 
Inman, who had been a missionary in Mexico and 
who was contributed to the committee by the 
Women’s Board of Missions of the Christian 
Church, and in February, 1916, the Congress on 
Christian Work in Latin America, held in Panama, 
attended by 304 delegates and 174 visitors from all | 
the Latin American fields and the United States 
and Canada and Europe. The Panama Congress 
began a new day of interest and activity in the 
Latin American field. It recommended the es- 
tablishment of the Committee on Codperation in 
Latin America, which was at once constituted by 
the Boards at work in Latin America, each ap- 
pointing its own representative upon the committee, 
and for nine years this committee has now been at 
work promoting interest in Latin America at the 
home base and cooperation and expansion in the 
work on the field. 

All the work of this committee has been directed 
and its expenses have been paid by the Boards with 
contributions proportionate to the extent of their 
work in Latin America. A few coodpted members 
have been added and some individuals have helped 
financially, but the strength of the committee’s 
work has lain in the fact that it has been the repre- 
sentative and responsible agency of the Boards 
themselves for caring for their common interests 
and responsibilities. It was in the fulfillment of 
this task that the committee, in consultation and 
codperation with the regional committees in South 
America, arranged for the Montevideo Congress. 


374 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





The plans contemplated a small congress of two 
hundred members, 100 from South America and 
100 from abroad. As it turned out, there were 315 
in all in attendance, of whom 161 were full official 
delegates, 19 fraternal delegates, 10 invited guests, 
and 121 visitors. Eighteen nations were repre- 
sented, including all the countries of South 
America, one Central American nation, Canada, 
the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, 
Italy, and Switzerland. Of the delegates more 
than three fourths were nationals and missionaries 
from South America, the number of nationals and 
missionaries being approximately equal. ‘Thirty- 
six organizations were represented, practically all 
the organizations and denominations at work in the 
South American lands, including the Salvation 
Army, the Plymouth Brethren, and the Seventh 
Day Adventists, the Church of England, the 
Church of Scotland, the Waldenses, the evangelical 
Churches in France and Spain, and all the Ameri- 
can and Canadian Churches interested in South 
America. 

It was a dominantly South American meeting. 
At Panama the great body of the delegates were 
direct from the United States, the chairman of the 
day session was a North American, the language 
was English and what was said in Spanish and 
Portuguese was translated into English, and the 
discussions were for the most part conducted by 
the American delegates or missionaries. At 
Montevideo, the Congress was unmistakably Latin 
American. It was held not on American soil as in 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 375 





Panama but in Spanish America. The largest 
group of delegates was South American. The 
Congress had only one presiding officer and he was 
Senhor Erasmo Braga, of Brazil. The language of 
the Congress was Spanish, usually though not 
always summarized in English. Portuguese also 
was used, as the language of Brazil, but was not 
translated into Spanish or Spanish into Portu- 
guese. ‘Twenty-one of the twenty-nine members 
of the Business Committee, through which all the 
resolutions and findings and official actions of the 
Congress were passed, were from South America. 
And the discussions of the Congress were almost 
wholly in the hands of the nationals and the mis- 
sionaries, the foreign delegation speaking but 
seldom. It was clear to everyone that this was a 
Congress not of the missionary Boards but of the 
South American evangelical churches. At first 
perhaps these churches were not sure that this was 
to be the case but they quickly realized it and were 
cordial in their appreciation of the attitude of the 
missionary Boards in taking the leadership in pre- 
paring for the Congress and making it possible and 
then leaving it fully in the hands of the leaders of 
the national churches. 

The place and conditions of the Congress meet- 
ing were perhaps as favorable as could be found in 
South America. Uruguay is a sort of South 
American Switzerland in its neutral and central 
position midway between the great Portuguese- 
speaking republic of Brazil and the two other 
leading South American nations of the A.B.C. 


376 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





group, Argentina and Chile. A commodious sum- 
mer hotel on the seashore in the most pleasant 
suburb of Montevideo had been engaged by the 
Committee on Cooperation, and all the delegates 
lived, and all the meetings were held, under one 
roof. The Boards and a few individual friends 
contributed the funds to cover the cost of enter- 
tainment of all the nationals as the guests of the 
Congress. The delegates mingled in a common 
fellowship at mealtimes and in the scanty periods 
between the sessions, which were held in a sun 
parlor looking out over the sea and the mouth of 
the Rio de la Plata toward Africa, with the surf 
breaking musically under the wide windows. 

The program of the Congress followed in the 
main the outline of similar gatherings. ‘The day 
began at eight-thirty with a half hour of quiet medi- 
tation and prayer. From nine until eleven-thirty 
the report of one of the twelve commissions was 
considered. At eleven-thirty came a half hour of 
devotional address and prayer. From two-thirty 
to five another commission report was discussed. 
At five the Congress adjourned for the day but 
from six to seven a public meeting, addressed by 
one of the Congress speakers, was held in the 
Ateneo, the best hall in the heart of the city, for the 
general public, especially the intellectual group, 
and at eight-thirty in the evening in the hotel, gen- 
eral meetings were held for the delegates and visi- 
tors, of which something more must be said later, as 
these meetings represented something new in con- 
ference programs. 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 377 





The main work of the Congress was in connec- 
tion with the commission reports and the findings. 
These reports were put together in New York but 
were made up of material prepared in South 
America under the regional or sectional commit- 
tees. ‘They were printed in English and in either 
Spanish or Portuguese so that they were accessible | 
to all members of the Congress, as those who read 
Spanish could easily understand the Portuguese 
and vice versa. ‘The reports took for granted the 
material presented in the reports at Panama and 
built upon these, but they also broke into new fields 
wholly untouched at Panama and illustrating the 
wider power and social influence and surer spirit- 
ual and moral grasp of the evangelical churches in 
Latin America to-day. The subjects of the twelve 
reports were: 1. Unoccupied Fields. 2. Indians. 
3. Education. 4. Evangelism. 5. Social Move- 
ments. 6. Health Ministry. 7. The Church and 
the Community. 8. Religious Education. 9. Lit- 
erature. 10. Relations between Foreign and Na- 
tional Workers. 11. Special Religious Problems. 
12. Codperation and Unity. The Missions in 
South America have always been primarily evan- 
gelistic. In Brazil for some years there was a 
strong missionary group opposed to the use of edu- 
cation as a missionary agency, except for the train- 
ing of Christian workers, and at Panama the fear of 
the modern social interpretations of the gospel 
was very manifest. At Montevideo the duty of 
making and keeping missionary education un- 
equivocally Christian and the warmth and direct- 


378 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





ness of the evangelistic purpose were as clear as at 
Panama but the churches and the Missions were 
already laying hold of the great social conceptions 
of the New Testament and realizing with a fuller 
mind the significance of the Incarnation for human 
relationships as well as for individual life. One of 
the reports, on “ The Church and the Community,” 
sets forth as satisfactory and convincing a state- 
ment as we have seen of the necessity and possi- 
bility of a true construction of the two aspects of 
the Christian gospel. 

I have spoken of the findings of the Montevideo 
Congress. In this respect the Congress differed 
from Edinburgh and Panama. The workers in 
South America made it plain before the Congress 
that they desired opportunity not only to discuss 
but also to state the results of discussion and ex- 
perience in definite conclusions. Provision was 
accordingly made for this. On two afternoons the 
Congress broke up into six groups. Each group 
considered two allied subjects of the twelve treated 
in the reports and drafted a series of findings on 
each of these subjects. ‘These findings were gone 
over and revised by the general Business Com- 
mittee of the Congress and were then printed and 
considered for a whole day by the Congress, which 
amended and adopted them. ‘There were 106 of 
these findings in all. ‘They were subjected to the 
criticism of all such actions as academic, as too 
general, as counsels of perfection, as representing 
the balance of divergent views, as timid, as extreme, 
but they were of great value both because of what 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 379 





they showed to exist in the life and thought of the 
South American churches and because of what they 
are sure to result in.’ 

A few of these findings may be quoted as illus- 
trating their general character: 

‘ South America holds a large and rapidly grow- 
ing place in the life of the world. Capital and | 
people are pouring in from the older and over- 
crowded countries to develop its immense natural 
resources and occupy its fertile plains. There 
exist here all the conditions that make for great 
movements and great consequences to humanity. 
The wisest development, therefore, of the political, 
economic, and social life of the continent, as well 
as its impact on the world, make imperative that 
South America shall be enabled to have the highest 
spiritual development. The great problem of both 
continents, north and south, is a religious problem. 
While on the one hand the masses have inadequate 
opportunity to rise out of their deep economic, in- 
tellectual, and spiritual poverty, the directing 
classes remain largely indifferent to religion as a 
vital factor in human progress. 

“ There are not wanting, however, signs of great 
promise. Recent years have witnessed in some of 
the countries extraordinary progress in democracy. 
There are abundant evidences of a new idealism, 
particularly among the educated youth. ‘There is 
a new sense of responsibility on the part of the 
directing classes in most of the countries. A sig- 


1 These findings are contained in the two-volume report on the 
Congress called Christian Work in South America, published by 
Fleming H. Revell Company. 


380 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





nificant social awakening is stirring great sections 
of the people, especally the industrial classes, and 
there is a new responsiveness, on the part of a 
growing and influential group, to Christ and His 
program for humanity. These new signs add 
urgency to the problem confronting the Christian 
forces in South America. 

“ The forces as yet at work in South America are 
wholly inadequate to the largeness and especially 
to the urgency of the task. Not only are large 
areas almost completely devoid of spiritual minis- 
tration, but great groups of society are given little 
opportunity to come into contact with vital religion. 
We would urge the importance of greatly strength- 
ening the evangelical forces of the continent. 
Especially do we feel that the time has come for 
increased emphasis on intensiveness in the cultiva- 
tion of the Latin American field. That so much 
of spiritual result has been achieved with so little 
of material equipment is a distinct evidence of the 
Divine approval of the evangelical work. We are 
deeply of the conviction, however, that the provi- 
dential indications now point toward emphasis on 
qualitative rather than quantitative effort. So 
thoroughly do we feel this that we would look with 
favor upon the concentration of our extended lines 
of occupation upon the points where the highest 
quality of work can be done. 

“Every evangelical institution, just because it is 
a Christian school, should be as nearly as possible 
a model school in its area, in equipment, methods, 
and teaching staff. Some of our schools have 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 381 





measurably approached this ideal and are the best 
schools available in their communities. In general 
our schools have done a great work and have won 
for themselves a high place in the estimation of the 
people. But in many schools our missionary teach- 
ers are too often untrained for their specific tasks 
and overburdened with administrative details; and 
the buildings, equipment, and grounds of the 
schools are inadequate. We find that these de- 
ficiencies, wherever they exist, are prejudicing our 
educational status and should be removed through 
the provision of adequate resources. 

“ Recognizing that eventually the evangelical 
work in each South American republic will be 
under the control of the nationals, we recommend 
that each school carefully work out and adopt, as 
rapidly as may be found wise, a system developing 
educational leadership by nationals, and tending 
toward eventual complete control. 

“We recommend that the educational forces give 
careful study to the problem of normally integrat- 
ing sex-social education in the educational scheme 
with a view to promoting the fullest and soundest 
development of personality and character, increas- 
ing individual happiness, and conserving and ad- 
vancing the welfare of society. 

“Inasmuch as the so-called ‘individual’ and 
‘social’ gospels constitute two essential and com- 
plementary aspects of the gospel of Christ, we con- 
sider that no Christian church fully discharges its 
mission unless it ministers to human welfare in 
both a physical and a spiritual sense.” 


382 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





“That this Congress recommend that each Mis- 
sion body appropriate annually for the production 
and circulation of evangelical and evangelistic 
literature a fixed sum, aiming to reach one tenth 
of its annual budget. 

“In view of the misconceptions prevailing in 
South America with regard to the true nature of 
religion, and the rooted prejudices which in conse- 
quence of these misconceptions characterize the 
attitude of multitudes of people towards the lit- 
urgic aspect of Christianity, it appears to us desir- 
able that the ‘ conferencia sin culto’ should be em- 
ployed as a recognized method of evangelism when 
by so doing the gospel could be presented to people 
for whom the ordinary type of religious service is 
without appeal. 

“In view also of the fact that there exist in all 
large centers groups of people belonging especially 
to the educated classes who, while being sincere 
Christians or being interested in Christianity in a 
general way, are not disposed to associate them- 
selves with any of the existing churches, we recom- 
mend that specially prepared men be set apart to 
work with these groups with a view to leading them 
to a full experience of Christ, and by gradual and 
natural stages lead them to a full outward expres- 
sion of their faith. 

“This Congress calls upon all believing Chris- 
tians of South America continually to remember 
that we are the body of which Christ is the Head, 
and that loyalty and devotion to our Head will 
keep us in the bonds of the closest fraternity. We 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 383 





will therefore ceaselessly seek the unity of the spirit 
in the bonds of love. In all matters, when not of 
the same opinion, we will ‘ agree to differ, but re- 
solve to love.’ 

“This Congress advises that the churches should 
be known under a common name, the denomina- 
tional name being placed in a parenthesis follow- , 
ing, so that the name would read, ‘ The Evangelical 
Church of Brazil (Presbyterian), ‘The Evan- 
gelical Church of Brazil (Methodist),’ et cetera.” 


Roki) 


CHAPTER II 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK IN SOUTH 
AMERICA 


(Continued ) 


ERHAPS attention should be called sepa- 
rately to the findings regarding the Indians 
and the relation of the churches and Missions to 
social movements. In addition to a full report on 
the Indians prepared by one of the commissions, 
the Congress had the benefit of the experience of a 
number of workers among the Indians, including 
Mrs. W. C. Roe and Miss Edith Dabb and es- 
pecially the invaluable help of Dr. Horta Barbosa, 
of Brazil, who had been sent to the Congress by the 
Brazilian Government. Dr. Barbosa is one of the 
best representatives of Brazilian Comtism, a man 
of noble spirit and devotion, who endeared himself 
to everyone and who represents the finest attempt 
which any South American Government is making 
to deal with the difficult problem of the native 
Indian population. On the west coast there is in 
addition to this problem the equally difficult one of 
educating and developing the great mass of people 
of mixed blood with the Indian strain predomi- 
nant. The following are some of the findings on 
the subject of the Indians: 

“The Congress is impressed with the work being 
done by some of the Governments, notably that of 
Brazil, for the economic and social welfare of the 

384 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 3885 





indigenous races. It feels strongly, however, the 
urgency of auxiliary work by evangelical agencies 
for the Indians, with a view to training them to 
become self-supporting and self-respecting citizens 
of their countries, and in order that they may share 
with their fellow men the full blessings of Chris- 
tianity. : | 

“ The Congress recommends that the regional 
Committees on Cooperation appoint Indian sub- 
committees which will work in close codperation 
with the Committee on Codperation in Latin 
America and with the Indian Commission which 
was recently organized in the United States. 

“'The Congress recommends that Mission cen- 
ters for work among the uncivilized Indians should 
be established at points to be determined as suitable 
by the regional committees, and that these centers 
should be adequately equipped for extending their 
service into the surrounding territory. 

“The Congress would recommend that mission- 
aries to the Indians, in the interests of understand- 
ing their problems as well as to win their confidence 
and be able to express effectively the Christian 
message, should: (a) acquire the native tongue; (b) 
where permitted by law, live among the people; 
(c) bear in mind that while industrial, medical, 
agricultural, educational, and social work are 
urgently necessary, the Indians’ fundamental prob- 
lems will not be permanently solved without help- 
ing them to a vital faith in Christ. 

“'The Congress would place upon the heart of 
the national churches the burden of responsibility 


386 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





for Christian work on behalf of the Indian races, 
and would urge that they seek in this service an out- 
let for the consecrated activities of their young 
people.” 

As already stated there was a far more assured 
and adequate treatment of the social problem than 
at Panama or perhaps than has been the case in any 
conference thus far held in Asia or at home. A 
most instructive report was presented on the social 
movements now affecting South American life and 
at several sessions the Congress considered the 
question of the relation of the churches to these 
movements. A few of the findings will indicate 
the result: 

“The Congress would express its deep interest 
in all movements, tending toward the application 
of the principles of Christ, for the improvement of 
the physical, mental, moral, and social habits and 
standards of the members of the community and 
their environmental conditions and_ influences. 
There are many such movements seeking to raise 
the level of individual and community life. 

“Since Christ Himself made no unequal dis- 
tinctions between men and women, the evangelical 
forces should educate public opinion to stand 
squarely for equal rights and duties of men and 
women before the law, and for an equal standard 
of morality in its highest interpretation. 

“ Jesus calls us to a universal brotherhood; peace 
in industry and between the nations; economic se- 
curity for all; the uplift of the classes of society 
that lack opportunity; the awakening of the be- 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 387 





lated races; the moral enrichment of all peoples by 
means of a free exchange of scientific and spiritual 
discoveries; the complete realization of our highest 
human possibilities. The realization of these ideals 
depends upon our making universal brotherhood a 
recognized and practical fact. The Congress there- 
fore calls on all Christian people to cleanse their 
hearts of all suspicion, all prejudice, and all selfish- 
ness; to begin now to treat all men as true brothers; 
to keep alive the spirit of good will in schools and 
churches; to oppose all forms of discord between 
national and international groups; to establish per- 
sonal contacts with men of different beliefs, dif- 
ferent social conditions, and national affiliations, so 
that there may be a leaven of brotherhood through- 
out the continent; to study sympathetically human 
activities in other lands, in order that understand- 
ing and knowledge may eliminate all suspicion and 
lack of confidence, and that in every land here 
represented there may be the development of a 
consciousness whose touchstone is the Golden Rule 
of Christ.” 

The unity of mind and spirit which came to 
characterize the Congress and which led it to adopt 
the findings in a full day’s discussion, with but few 
amendments and with practical unanimity, was the 
more remarkable when one considered the wide 
diversity of types of thought and experience and 
organization represented. Some one stated that 
he had made a list of at least thirty divergent trends 
of opinion and temper. All who have had to do 
with work in Latin America know that this observ- 


388 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


er’s list was very conservative. At first, perhaps 
some feared that differences would prevail over 
unity but it was not so. ‘The spirit of unity gath- 
ered up all diversity into a richer whole and the 
last morning of the Congress was the happiest and 
best, ending with a notable address by Bishop 
McConnell, in which he drew attention to the 
underlying facts or assumptions of the Congress, 
that we are already one in spirit, that true Christi- 
anity and true knowledge belong together and that 
there can be no conflict between them, that the 
social program of Christianity is a natural and 
integral part of the gospel, that in the distinctive 
problems of South America the South American 
churches of course have to speak the determining 
word, that doctrinal differences are not to be al- 
lowed to thwart us, that our hope is in Christ and 
that He is to be found in the way of daily, stead- 
fast duty. 

Interlaced with the gravest problems of mission- 
ary policy which were discussed the Congress found 
and faced the deep problem of evangelical work in 
South America, the types of Christianity known to 
South America and desired or rejected by the 
people, the place of. mysticism and beauty in the 
worship of the churches, the attitude of the evan- 
gelical churches to the Roman Catholic Church, the 
social, individual, and spiritual problems of the 
Latin American nations. As a help in the under- 
standing of these problems, and especially in in- 
forming the delegates from North America and 
Europe regarding them, a number of representa- 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 389 





tive men and women had been invited to the Con- 
gress, who, it was known, were in sympathy with 
the ideals for which the Congress stood, although 
some of these guests were members of the Roman 
Catholic Church and others were members of no 
church at all, such as Dr. Molino, Rector of the 
University of Concepcion in Chile, Senor and: 
Senora Salas Marchant and Dr. Cora Mayers, of 
Santiago, Dr. Ernesto Nelson, of Buenos Aires, 
and Dr. Barbosa, of Rio. One of the evening meet- 
ings was called “ The Evening of the Open Heart,” 
when these friends spoke with complete candor. 
At first some of the evangelical Church leaders 
were distrustful of this arrangement but they fol- 
lowed with an evening in which these evangelical 
leaders opened their hearts and by the end of the 
Congress I think all felt that the innovation had 
been well worth while and the visitors left with 
many expressions of affection from them and to 
them. It was clear that, whatever separated, there 
were deeper things that bound together. 

Among the side meetings of the Congress was 
one called by the nationals themselves to consider 
their attitude to the Roman Catholic Church and 
the matter of any deliverance regarding it. Some 
would have taken a very polemic position, and in- 
deed all recognized that whatever the attitude of 
the evangelical churches might be, the Roman 
Catholic Church as such would not look upon the 
evangelical churches otherwise than as outlawed 
schismatics and would have no relations of codpera- 
tion with them. On the beautiful verdure-clad hill 


390 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





of Santa Lucia in the heart of Santiago can still be 
seen the tablet to the memory of the Protestant 
dead who have been buried there for half a century 
and who are described on the tablet as “ exiles from 
heaven and earth.’- Officially that is the attitude 
of the Roman Church in South America toward the 
evangelical churches and their members, whether 
native or alien. But many of the nationals at this 
little meeting pointed out that with Roman Cath- 
olics as individuals they were sustaining increasing 
relations of understanding and intimacy and that 
their evangelical position in South America was too 
assured to make it necessary for them to apologize 
for it or defend it. 

This is one of the true lessons which every one 
must have brought away from Montevideo, namely, 
first, the strength and power of the evangelical 
churches in South America, and secondly, the 
warrant and necessity for their power and work. 
A word may be said on each of these points. 

The evangelical churches of South America are 
an actual reality, a part of the present indigenous 
life of the republics, as truly at home and national 
as any other force or institution on the continent. 
According to the statistics of the World Missionary 
Atlas (1925) the Protestant churches in South 
America have a communicant membership of 122,- 
266 with 2,006 clergy and other workers. ‘The 
atlas does not include the total number of Presby- 
terians in Brazil which, according to the churches’ 
reports, is 31,129 instead of 8,497. Adding the 
difference, 22,632, would make the total of Protes- 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 391 





tant communicants, 144,898. The churches in the 
other Latin American countries of the Caribbean 
area have 65,146 members with 1,871 workers. If 
Jamaica and the British Lesser Antilles and Trini- 
dad, et cetera, were included, these islands would 
add 180,873 communicants and 2,217 workers. 
These are not to be included as Latin America, | 
however. In Latin America alone, accordingly, 
there are 210,044 Protestant communicants. 

The Congress bore striking witness to the growth 
and power of the Protestant movement in South 
America during the past two decades. In 1903, 
there were 750 missionaries on the continent; in 
1924, 2,105; in 1908, 1,100 national ministers; in 
1924, 2,306. In 1903, there were 32,000 communi- 
cants; in 1925, 144,898, with a total Protestant com- 
munity of 251,196. Since the Panama Congress 
in 1916, there has been marked advance. The 
number of organized churches has increased fifty 
per cent, from 856 to 1,263; the communicant 
membership has increased by nearly forty per cent. 
The largest advance has been made in Brazil; 
Argentina and Chile follow next. Numerically 
the Protestant Churches in Latin America are two 
thirds as strong as the Church of England in 
Canada or more than twice the Protestant Church 
in China at the end of the first ninety years of 
missionary work there among four times the popu- 
lation of Latin America. But the position of the 
evangelical Church in Latin America is not to be 
measured numerically. ‘Their influence, as in 
Japan, is out of all proportion to their present 


392 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





numbers, and that influence is increasing every 
year. The late Dr. Jose Carlos Rodriguez, 
founder of the Jornal de Comercio of Rio and one 
of the most influential leaders of Brazil, who de- 
voted the last years of his life to writing a great 
book on the Bible, once remarked to a visitor, to 
whom he was describing the dire needs of his coun- 
try: “And yet I see a hope but I am almost 
ashamed to tell you where it is. It is in the Protes- 
tant churches which are multiplying in my land.” 
“In our moral fight for temperance and purity,” 
said the outstanding leader of reform in another 
South American country during our visit, “the 
Protestant churches are our greatest religious 
ally.” In Brazil alone the communicants of the 
evangelical churches number nearly 70,000, with 
more than double this number of adherents, and 
with more than 60,000 children in the Sunday 
schools. The name of these churches stands for 
probity and character. And no one could see the 
Brazilian delegation at Montevideo and fail to 
realize that these churches and their leaders are 
entitled to a full place in the councils of the 
Churches of the world. To treat them or to think 
of them as intruders is sheer presumption. ‘They 
are as natural and as lawful in Latin America as 
the Roman Catholic Church, and no small part of 
the hope of Latin America for the future is in them. 

The second clear impression received at Monte- 
video, and at the regional congresses in Rio and 
Buenos Aires and Santiago which preceded and 
followed the continental congress, is that Latin 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 393 





America needs and welcomes the forces represented 
by the evangelical churches. ‘The need is beyond 
exaggeration. Dr. Nelson told the Congress 
plainly that the Christian Churches came to South 
America under a_ discredited banner. South 
America had learned to identify Christianity with 
the institution of the Church and had rejected both. 
This is true of a large section of the population. | 
And that is in itself a revelation of the need of what 
Paul calls “ Christ’s gospel” in Latin America. 
These nations are facing all the destructive political 
ideas of the modern world. Argentina has a prob- 
lem of immigrant assimilation and agrarian re- 
adjustment and Chile a problem of economic and 
social evolution and Peru and Bolivia a problem of 
popular education as grave as any nations in the 
world have to consider. ‘The whole continent faces 
acute problems of physical and moral health and 
well-being. It needs all agencies of help which it 
can secure. And it welcomes them. It is a curi- 
ous fact that the only unfriendly and inhospitable 
words about the Congress of which we heard were 
in a British paper and an American magazine in 
Buenos Aires. From every Latin American ele- 
ment, the Governments, the press, the people, only 
a hearty welcome was given to the Congress and 
all for which it stood. And perhaps the heartiest 
words of all were spoken by the president of one of 
the leading South American republics. 

The Congress began far more than it concluded. 
It called for a long list of codperative services to 
be provided for directly by the Committee on 


394 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Coéperation in Latin America or by that commit- 
tee indirectly through the regional committees on 
the field, three of which at least are already doing 
good work, led by the Brazil Committee. This 
committee is under the guidance of Sefior Krasmo 
Braga, who, with four languages at his command 
and with rare grace and wisdom, presided over the 
Congress at Montevideo and demonstrated the 
capacity of the leadership already developed in the 
evangelical centers in South America. In other 
words, this Congress, which was in the hands of the 
nationals of South America, instead of suggesting 
that the era of foreign missionary help was over, 
called for more of it than ever and gave indisput- 
able evidence that such help offered in the true 
spirit of equal brotherhood and service is more 
desired than ever before. And it also proved that 
this help is deserved and may issue soon in South 
America in the full development of great national 
bodies fitted to render in South America the same 
sort of service rendered by the evangelical Churches 
in Europe and in the United States and Canada. 
Nobody will profit more by this service than the 
Roman Catholic Church in Latin America. “ The 
difficulty with the Roman Catholic Church in South 
America,” the ablest bishop in one of the South 
American countries is said to have remarked, “ is 
that here the Church is like a rich man’s son. In 
the United States, it has had to work for its living. 
Look at the difference!’ ‘There is every reason 
why the Churches of Great Britain and the United 
States should follow their sons who go to South 


THE CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WORK 395 





America and try to hold them to the Christian 
faith and character. It is appalling to see how 
easily Christianity falls away from our young men 
when they go abroad. The Anglican and Union 
Churches which are seeking to serve and help these 
men deserve a far more adequate support. And 
whatever reason exists for the Churches in Great 
Britain and the United States to look after their 
own sons in South America is vital also as a reason 
for them to help the evangelical Churches of South 
America in their effort to bring the Christ of life 
and power, not of the manger and the crucifix 
alone, but also of the resurrection, to the place of 
leadership in the great struggle which is going on 
in Latin America. 


Dat aad Nek: 


CHAPDE Rat iL 


THE OPENING AND CLOSING MEETINGS AT 
MONTEVIDEO 


HE first session of the Congress on Christian 
Work in South America was held on Sunday 
afternoon, March 29, in the large terraced sun 
parlor of the Pocitos Hotel, where the whole Con- 
gress lived together for nearly a fortnight. There 
is dispute as to whether Montevideo is on the Rio 
de la Plata or on the seacoast. Perhaps it is on 
both. At any rate the delegates looked out from 
their meeting room over the Atlantic waters tinged 
by the yellow flood of the Plata. A white lght- 
house glistened in the sun on a little island miles 
away and the soft winds blew in from the sea. 
Bishop Oldham and Dr. Drees, the veteran of the 
Methodist Mission in Latin America, conducted 
the devotional services and then Dr. Erasmo Braga 
made the opening address. Dr. Braga is the 
leader of the evangelical forces in Brazil. He isa 
son of devoted old evangelical parents still living, 
a graduate of Mackenzie College, a former teacher 
in the Campinas gymnasium or state college and 
also in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 
Campinas, now secretary of the Committee of 
Codperation of the Evangelical Churches and Mis- 
sions in Brazil, and the trusted friend of the best 
men in the intellectual and moral life of Brazil. 
396 


MEETINGS AT MONTEVIDEO 397. 


The following day of the Congress he was unani- 
mously chosen its presiding officer and this Sunday 
afternoon he spoke the first words. He exhorted 
everyone to put all his heart and confidence into 
the work before them. “The besetting sin of 
South America,” said Dr. Braga, “is pessimism. 
Without question one of the great problems for 
which a solution must be found is this spirit of 
despair and distrust. It is a sin alike against God 
and humanity. It is not a minor evil; it is one of 
the greatest of sins. We of this Congress should 
realize that we are great sinners unless we face our 
problems in the spirit of trust in God and con- 
fidence in the future progress of the human race. 
Without a doubt, a lack of trust and confidence in 
humankind is a contributing cause of the jealousy 
and suspicion which so often in the past have 
broken out into open hostility between nations and 
races. On the other hand, those who have been 
in the thick of the struggle for the advance of 
humanity have been men who have been able to 
maintain their confidence in God and in their fel- 
low men. It is in such a spirit of trust and con- 
fidence that this Congress proposes to face the vital 
problems of South America. Pessimism shall 
have no place in our councils.” 

Dr. John Mackay, of Lima, was the next to 
address the members of the Congress and he 
awakened an enthusiastic response by declaring 
that South America has come to the springtime of 
its national life. Xverywhere evidences are to be 
seen that the long winter has passed and that the 


398 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


spring is at hand, emphasized Dr. Mackay. In the 
coming of this new life the representatives of the 
evangelical Churches with their increasing empha- 
sis on education and social movement have had a 
very real part. 

“Paul the apostle, if he were living to-day, 
would most certainly be a missionary,” the speaker 
said. In this statement he took issue with EK. Re- 
nan who fifty years ago asserted that Paul of our 
time would not be a missionary. “ When in the 
world’s history has there been greater need for 
Paul’s gospel of reconciliation and good will than 
to-day? It is for the spread of this gospel that 
Christian missions in South America stand. Those 
who are enlisted in the missionary enterprise have 
reason for hope and encouragement. God is in 
South American life in a new way. Evidence of 
this is to be found in the way in which young peo- 
ple are everywhere devoting themselves altruisti- 
cally to the service of humanity, working with de- 
votion and enthusiasm for popular enlightenment 
and uplift. Many of these young people do not 
know themselves as Christians but they have been 
moved by what is the essential spirit of the gospel 
and they will sooner or later find themselves in ac- 
cord with those instrumentalities which are doing 
the work of Christ in South America. Another 
evidence to the same effect is to be found in the new 
interest in social movements and more especially a 
new hunger for personal fellowship. The study of 
metaphysics and philosophical theory no longer 
satisfies as it once did. Men long to find friend- 


MEETINGS AT MONTEVIDEO 399 





ship, and yearn for an assurance that the Spirit of 
the universe is a Friend and Companion. ‘The 
modern interest in spiritism is a testimony to this 
same longing for personal fellowship. Conver- 
sions to the Christian life, striking cases of which 
can be related by every missionary, are another evi- 
dence of the presence of God’s Spirit among us. 
Still another evidence is to be seen in the Con- 
gress which meets here to-day. We are here,” 
said Dr. Mackay, “not for what we can get but 
for what we can give. We are here not through 
selfish interest in any institution. Too long reli- 
gion has been interpreted in terms of an institu- 
tion and in terms of dogma. The _ by-prod- 
ucts of religion have long been looked upon as the 
real thing. It is criminal in South America to 
accentuate mere denominational differences. 'Too 
long have jealousies and suspicions prevailed 
among the peoples of this continent. Behind in- 
stitutions, creeds, and services, there is a new life 
that gives the best results in all endeavors, whether 
civic, political, social, or religious, and it is in this 
new life that we find our hope for the future.” 
In this address Dr. Mackay anticipated a mes- 
sage which he gave later, in which many thought 
he struck the keynote of the conference, when he 
said that we should love the living, loving Christ, 
we should love one another, and accept the full con- 
sequences of such allegiance and love. “ Our mes- 
sage is to be prophetic rather than sacerdotal: the 
living word of the living Christ to living man, the 
essence of Christianity being not a rite or a creed, 


400 MODERN .MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





but communion with the living God and service of 
men as our brothers, growing out of the inspira- 
tion and fellowship of that communion.” 

Both of these addresses laid deep hold upon the 
Congress. Dr. Braga spoke in his native lan- 
guage, Portuguese, and Dr. Mackay in Spanish. 
Dr. Mackay is a missionary of the Free Church of 
Scotland, the section that refrained from the union 
of the old Free and United Presbyterian Churches. 
He studied at Princeton and learned Spanish in 
Spain. One of the delegates from Spain was 
carried away by his address. “ I never knew,” said 
he, “that a foreigner could speak with such elo- 
quence in Spanish.” But it was not eloquence 
only; it was moral and spiritual power, as Dr. 
Mackay set forth the likeness of South America 
to the almond blossoms of the spring of Jeremiah’s 
vision, with its promise of the rich fruitage to fol- 
low when the time of gathering shall have come in 
the day that is both sure and near. 

The company of three hundred who faa gath- 
ered for the conference from three continents went 
out with new hope and confidence in their hearts 
and gathered again in the evening for the opening 
English address by Dr. Speer. 

“ Christianity,” said he, “is a religion which is 
always fearlessly and unrelentingly criticizing it- 
self. If Christianity is what those who profess it 
believe it to be, it presents to men in Christ an 
absolute ideal and in the gospel of Christ the ulti- 
mate revelation. It follows of necessity that our 
attainment of this ideal and our comprehension of 


MEETINGS AT MONTEVIDEO 401 





this revelation must be imperfect as yet. ‘There- 
fore, we must be forever summoning ourselves to 
higher doctrines and to fuller knowledge. But 
while we are dissatisfied with and doubtful about 
ourselves, we are sure about Christ and His gospel. 
The imperfection is not in Him, but in our appre- 
hension of Him. What we need is simply a better 
explanation of Christianity, that we may lay human 
life open to admit more of the power and truth 
which we possess in Christianity but have not 
drawn on and made use of in life. 

“We are here to push out the limits of our life 
and thought. We are not to add anything to 
Christ and the truth that has come in Him, but we 
are to make fresh discoveries in this truth and new 
demands upon this power. Christianity does not 
flinch from such fresh examinations. 'The more we 
subject it to the tests of life and the world the more 
we discover that what is needed is there. 

“We are here in this Congress to discover how 
rich and varied the Christian gospel is. Many 
aspects of it are to be brought into view, and we 
shall find them not in conflict, but in accord, supple- 
menting each the other. We shall see Jesus Christ 
shining as the Lord of life and the Light of society 
and nations. We shall bring out the power in 
Christianity to work miracles in this day. We 
shall make room for those who work on the prem- 
ises which are fundamental, in a religion which 
makes the normal growth up from childhood its 
first endeavor even more than the recovery of 
broken manhood. We shall see the social principle 


402 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





as a vital element and recognize that Jesus Christ 
came not to lose but to save the world. We must 
draw out the law of brotherhood which does not 
destroy but fulfill and consecrate the law of nation- 
ality and race. We shall see the new values which 
emerge from a return to the earliest conception of 
Christianity as a way of life. We shall discover 
the meaning of the doctrine of the resurrection as 
a principle of life and power before which any- 
thing that ought to be becomes possible. And we 
shall discover the one hope for the world in Jesus 
Christ as the real head of men and nations, the one 
world emperor. 

‘“ And this is not a correction or enlargement of 
Christianity. It is simply the discovery of what is 
already there and waits to be drawn out and made 
use of now in South and North America alike, and 
in all the world.” 

It was thus that the Congress opened. Nine days 
of conference followed, and then on Tuesday even- 
ing, April 7, and Wednesday morning, April 8, 
the Congress came to a close, but not to an end. 

On the last morning the Congress came together 
with the cool winds of the South American autumn 
blowing up from the Antarctic. The sunlight 
poured in through all the glass walls and shone on 
the great bunches of pink and yellow flowers. ‘The 
surf broke musically under the windows and the 
white lighthouse glistened in the morning sun 
across the sea. The hearts of all had been closely 
knit together during the fortnight gone and 
shadows of regret fell across the joy of the last 


MEETINGS AT MONTEVIDEO 408 


hours together. Dr. Drees led the devotional hour, 
speaking in Spanish, of course, on the thirteenth 
chapter of John, with the map of South America 
hanging behind him and representing the call of 
those whom Christ would have more truly served. 
Then came a prayer to O altissimo Dios y nuestro 
Padre, ““O Jloftiest God and our own Father,” 
and the Spanish hymns, “Cantad Alegres al 
Senor” and “ Despliegue el Cristiano Su Santa 
Bandera.” 

The findings of the Congress had been adopted 
on the preceding day but two more resolutions were 
now presented, one urging the development of the 
regional codperative committees like the one which 
had done such efficient work in Brazil, and the 
other sending the greetings of the South American 
Congress to the Congress of the Caribbean Sea 
countries to be held in Mexico or Havana in the 
summer of 1926. ‘Then Mr. Inman presented the 
facts regarding the membership of the Congress, 
and spoke of the work of the Committee on Co- 
operation in Latin America which represents all 
the Boards and which had prepared for the Monte- 
video Congress. And Mr. Tallon, of Argentina, 
rose and expressed in behalf of the South Ameri- 
can delegates and for the Congress their gratitude 
to the Committee on Cooperation for all that it 
had done. 

Then followed mention by one after another of 
some of those who had been at the Panama Con- 
ference in 1916 or had served Latin America and 
were now gone: Sr. Eduardo Carlos Pereira, of 


404 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Brazil, Dr. A. W. Halsey, Bishop Homer C. 
Stuntz, Bishop Walter A. Lambuth, Dr. A. Mc- 
Lean, of the United States, and Mr. Wolf, of Peru. 
Mr. Caudier, the delegate of the French evan- 
gelical Churches, told of the joy it was to them to 
have these closer relationships with the Churches of 
America, North and South, and Sr. Araujo, of 
Spain, spoke for the Spanish delegates of their new 
realization of the community of the problems of the 
evangelical Churches in all the Spanish-speaking 
world. Then everybody thanked everybody with 
overflowing love and good cheer and the whole 
group melted together in the sense of a real unity, 
the unity of common problems, common duties, 
common difficulties, common aims, common mo- 
tives, and one common Master. 

All this had been absolutely unpremeditated, and 
in the same open family confidence. Dr. Ernesto 
Nelson, of Buenos Aires, rose to speak for the 
little group of men and women who had attended 
the Congress because they were in sympathy with 
the spirit and ideals of the evangelical movement in 
South America though they themselves had not yet 
become identified with it. Many of them, he said, 
were educators and they realized that their work 
was incomplete and vain without the things repre- 
sented in the Congress. Senhorita Corina Bar- 
reiros, of Rio de Janeiro, followed with words of 
gratitude in behalf of the women of Brazil and of 
all South America for what the Congress and the 
North American women in the conference had 
already meant to them and would mean in the 
future. 


MEETINGS AT MONTEVIDEO 405 


The Congress was nearing its close and, before 
calling on the last speaker, Sr. Krasmo Braga 
spoke his farewell words as chairman. 'The Con- 
gress had already expressed its love for him and its 
admiration of the ability and skill and grace and 
wisdom with which he had guided the gathering 
from the first to the last. “ Perhaps,” he said, 
“there are some of us who when we came doubted 
the warrant of the Congress. ‘Would it not be 
better,’ we thought, “to spend the cost of the Con- 
gress on the work instead of meeting for talk and 
paper resolutions?’ All these doubts had been 
swept away, especially in the unity of the consider- 
ation of the findings on the preceding day. The 
Congress represented real moral and _ spiritual 
forces. ‘These were the great need of South Amer- 
ica. Its curse was officialism. It needed private 
persons with moral enthusiasm to carry forward 
the movements essential to South America’s life. 
Here they had come to the great central things, 
especially to the cross. ‘The place around the cross 
is big enough for all of us but not for our preju- 
dices and distrusts. We are to bring our hearts 
and all the world to stand with us around the cross. 
The heart of Christ is not dead. It is alive. And 
here we are to live —all of us in and about the 
cross of Christ.” | 

Then Bishop McConnell spoke the final words. 
As he ended, Sr. Erasmo rose once again to say: 
‘Now we have cleared for action. Into action let 
us go. And the first action is prayer. The women 
have called us to this in the league which they have 
begun here of the evangelical women of South 


406 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





America for prayer for Christ’s supremacy in our 
continent.” And we sang in many languages but 
with one tune and one heart, “ Bless be the tie that 
binds our hearts in Christian love,” Bishop Oldham 
pronounced the benediction, and the Congress 
closed. But it did not end. ‘‘ Father,” said a little 
boy to his father as the sermon came to a close, “is 
the sermon done?” “ No, my son,” said the father. 
“It has been said but it is not done. It is for you 
and me to do it.” 


Re Bee 


CHAPTER IV 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK IN SOUTH 
AMERICA 


HE medical profession is one of the most 
honored callings in South America and many 
of the most useful and conspicuous of its public 
men have been physicians. In the great cemetery 
at Buenos Aires there is a monument to Dr. Raw- 
son with two bronze bas-reliefs, one showing Raw- 
son in the clinic, the other in the legislative hall. 
Doctors also are among the leading teachers in the 
schools, quite apart from the medical schools. In- 
deed, one of the drawbacks, in the judgment of 
some, in the way of the largest usefulness of the 
medical profession is its use by so many men as a 
means to something else or as an avocation rather 
than life’s controlling occupation. On the other 
hand, there are many great physicians and students 
who have served their profession and humanity in 
noble measure. One has only to mention Oswaldo 
Cruz, Miguel Pereira, Vital Brasil, and Carlos 
Chagas to show what is the contribution of the 
Brazilian medical profession alone ‘to the world. 
In some of the South American countries also 
there are great and well-equipped hospitals and 
good medical schools. Many of their graduates 
have also taken medical courses in Kurope. And 
there is great interest in public health and sanita- 
407 


408 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





tion and especially in the war against tuberculosis 
and venereal disease and infant mortality. Many 
men of courage and devotion are giving their time 
to these undertakings. ‘The need for the work that 
they are doing and for its immediate enlargement 
is immense. Chagas, of Brazil, says that Rio has 
the greatest death rate from tuberculosis of any 
of the great cities of the world, and Dr. Pera, of 
Chile, told us that of the great death rate in Chile 
twenty-four per cent was due to syphilis and — 
twenty per cent to tuberculosis. 

The whole situation was surveyed in one of the 
reports presented at the Congress on Christian 
Work in Montevideo, March 29 to April 8, and it 
can best be set forth perhaps in a summary of some 
of the statements in that report: 

Brazil. — ““ We must confess that we have few 
hospitals worthy of mention. Our principal hos- 
pital, the Santa Casa, is an old, out-of-date struc- 
ture, built in an epoch when there was a complete 
ignorance of modern medical practice. Hygiene, 
microscopy, antisepsis, and the like, were not even 
known as names. ‘The best hospital in existence is 
the San Francisco de Assisi, a more or less model 
one, yet installed in a building erected for other 
purposes and but imperfectly adapted to the care 
of the sick. There is not a single hospital for 
children in Brazil. There are two hospitals for 
contagious diseases: one for tubercular women in a 
building erected for this purpose, well located but 
inadequate for local needs, much less for patients 
outside of Rio; and another for general contagious 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 409 


diseases, in which there is a pavilion for tubercular 
men. In addition to these there is a hospital for 
lepers, wholly inadequate. ‘There is a maternity 
hospital in Rio, but this is also too small. ‘There 
are, of course, many well-installed and well-con- 
ducted private sanitariums and hospitals, but these 
are,in the. cities., In. general: terms; it) ‘can be 
affirmed that there is a sad lack of good hospital 
service throughout Brazil.” 

“ Dr. Thwing in his report on medical conditions 
in South America remarked that one hospital in 
Sao Paulo designed for five hundred patients was 
at the time of his visit used by eight hundred. He 
found another hospital with three tiers of patients. 
“One tier lay on the floor beneath the ordinary 
beds; one occupied the ordinary beds; and one lay 
on the second deck of the double-decked cots.’ ” 

Argentina and Uruguay.— “ Drs. Mayo and 
Martin made an official visit of inspection and com- 
mented as follows: ‘Some of the hospitals were 
deficient in modern plumbing. ... Two defects 
evident in nearly all the hospitals visited and which 
appealed to us as rather easy to remedy were the 
lack of screening against flies, mosquitoes, and 
other insects and of a well-organized system of 
nursing. The latter was freely admitted by our 
hosts. 

“In Uruguay, the Hospital Maciel at Monte- 
video is certainly one of the largest in the republic, 
yet its hundreds of rooms have no screens. Its 


1 Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics, April-August, 1920, pp. 
10. 


r] 


410 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





wards are always crowded and some of them are in- 
adequate. The sisters who are in charge of the nurs- 
ing are supposed to refrain from religious propa- 
ganda, unless requested; but strange things are 
heard of their practice in this regard. Scanning 
the résumé of the movement within the public hos- 
pitals in Uruguay for any one month, one is apt to 
conclude that registers are not always carefully 
kept, especially in the provinces. There is but one 
nurses’ training school in the country, poorly 
equipped at present, but with a fine future before 
it. The Pereira-Rossell, under the Asistencia 
Publica of the Government, is well located and 
quite well equipped. But what may be found true 
in this or any other South American metropolis 
should not lead one to assume equal progress out 
in the provinces. It is practically axiomatic that 
all progress is initiated, all show places are to be 
found, in the capitals. 

where visehttle song in the writer’s mind that 
the situation in provincial Argentina, far from en- 
couraging in towns under 50,000, and hopeless in 
the remoter districts, will greatly improve in the 
next two decades. ‘The other large cities besides 
Buenos Aires are more or less served from a hos- 
pital standpoint; but how discouraging it is to read 
that in the vast province of Santa Fe there are only 
four or five municipal hospitals, two of which are in 
Rosario. The remaining hospitals of this province 
probably do not exceed a dozen, though the popu- 
lation of Santa Fe Province is 1,000,000. Ex- 
cluding from the list of Argentine hospitals those 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 411 





of the Federal District and the provinces of Buenos 
Aires, Entre Rios, and Santa Fe, we find that the 
remaining eleven provinces and the territories are 
served by only about one hundred. ‘The great area 
of Argentina makes this number quite inadequate, 
to say nothing of the frontier neglect already men- 
tioned.”’ 

Chile. — “Sr. Oscar A. Gacuita writes: ‘In 
1911 there were 98 hospitals in the country; in 1915, 
107. These were maintained by grants in aid by 
the Government, and by municipal and private sub- 
scriptions. In spite of the increase, however, the 
agencies at present in operation cannot adequately 
attend to the needs of the people, and many are 
daily turned away from their doors. There is 
room to make mention of the splendid clinics which 
have been established in the principal hospitals in 
Santiago . . . where the most delicate operations 
are performed without cost to the patient... . 
The hospitals are managed by the Benevolent Com- 
mittee who in the main are members of the Con- 
servative and pro-Catholic party, and the care of 
the patients is given over to the nursing 
sisters.’ ”’ 

Peru. — “ President Thwing writes: ‘A physi- 
cian, visiting in Cuzco, said that the hospital found 
in that little city is about as deplorable a remnant 
of the medieval ages as can be found on the entire 
continent.’ Dr. Johnson adds, ‘In my estimation 
local hospitals are an absolute necessity.’ ”’ 

Bolivia. — ‘“‘ From the sanitary standpoint the 
field is untouched; its surface has not even been 


412 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





scratched! In spite, however, of this desperate 
situation, there is a small nucleus of people in La 
Paz at present who are beginning to have some 
idea of social welfare.” 

Ecuador. — “ One. visitor to Ecuador describes 
a visit to a hospital in which he was warned not to 
approach the beds of the patients too closely on 
account of the vermin with which they were in- 
fested. ‘ Hospital facilities in Guayaquil are very 
poor and the hospitals, such as they are, are badly 
overcrowded with malaria. At the time the hos- 
pital was visited, a row of mattresses extended 
down the middle of the floor, each containing a 
malaria patient.” 

Mr. E. S. Gilmore, Superintendent of the Wes- 
ley Hospital in Chicago and President of the 
American Hospital Association, remarked at the 
Congress in Montevideo that during his visit to 
South America he had seen some hospitals as good 
as any and some that were the worst he had ever 
seen, and that the fault was not with the doctors but 
with the lack in South America of the trained 
nursing profession as it is known in the United 
States and Canada and Europe. We need to re- 
member that this profession is new with us. The 
Rockefeller Foundation has established in one of 
the best hospitals in Rio a training school which 
is lifting the whole standard of nursing and which 
it is hoped may mark the beginning of a new day 
in medical work in South America, where the sur- 
geons are capable but where there is a lack of 
proper preoperative and postoperative care. 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 413 


But the vast majority of the people are out of 
the reach of hospitals and the care of competent 
doctors. ‘The hospitals are in the large cities and 
the doctors also concentrate there. Also the masses 
of the poor are in need, especially the poor children. 
Chile is one of the most enlightened and energetic 
of the South American countries but its conditions 
of sanitation and mortality are probably the worst 
in South America. One of the most experienced 
and devoted women in Chile set forth the conditions 
in a paper which she presented to the Regional 
Conference on Christian Work in Santiago, April 
21-26: 

“We live in a land of lofty mountains, whose 
snows are glistening white in their purity, and of 
deep, dark valleys with treacherous sides. 

“We live in a country whose climate is wonder- 
ful beyond compare, whose people are of a strong 
and sturdy stock, but whose population is deci- 
mated by plagues and disease. 

“We live in a country that has the highest birth 
rate in the world, but alongside stands the awful 
specter of the highest infant mortality. 

“We live in a land whose cities have finely 
equipped hospitals and whose doctors stand high in 
their profession, but where the people of the vil- 
Jages are at the mercy of charlatans. 

“We have the carefully cared-for mother with 
nurses and doctors and every comfort that money 
can buy. We have the poor woman with neither 
nurse nor doctor, nor a bed to lie upon. The follow- 
ing will explain this statement: 


414 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





“A few years ago the wife of the governor of 
Valparaiso visited the maternity hospital of that 
city and published a description of what she saw, 
in one of the daily papers. 

“She said that every bed in the free ward was 
occupied. At one bed there was a woman sitting 
at one end who had just been delivered of a child, 
at the other end a woman waiting for the bed, 
which was occupied by a woman in labor, until it 
should be available for her. The governor’s wife 
made an appeal to the public and more beds were 
added. 

‘To one of the Mission dispensaries a woman 
took her baby with its navel in a very bad con- 
dition. She was asked if she had had her confine- 
ment in a maternity hospital. Her answer was, 
‘No.’ “You had a midwife?’ ‘No.’ * Some 
neighbor took care of you?’ ‘No. Then in reply 
to the surprised look of the missionary, she said, 
‘I had no one with me but my little girl of eight 
who passed me a basin of warm water.’ 

“There are large families of healthy, happy 
children and there are mothers who bear children 
only to bury them. Ignorance, poverty, alcohol- 
ism, and the dreadful scourge of venereal disease 
all have their part in putting out the little flame 
of life. I knew a woman who used to have a fine 
robust baby in a box by her side as she washed. 
One day, missing the baby, I asked for it. ‘It 
died,’ was her answer. ‘What was the matter?’ 
“Tt had an attack.’ ‘ Is it the first child that you 
have lost?’ ‘ No, eight have died.’ 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 415 


‘We live in a land of splendid universities but 
where the law of compulsory education cannot be 
enforced for lack of buildings and teachers. 

‘We live in a land where children by thousands 
are gathered into asylums, offsprings of illegiti- 
macy. But who goes to hamlet and tenement to 
teach the girls to guard their honor? 

‘We live in a land where vice is made easy for 
the man but where the woman who is a mother but 
cannot call herself a wife is abandoned or cared for 
at the caprice of the father of her child. 

‘We live in a land of fabulous wealth and ab- 
ject poverty. In the nitrate deserts of the north, 
in the waving wheat fields of the south, in the 
underground treasure house of the mines, are the 
mighty masters of industry, who often in a few 
years have amassed fortunes from the heart blood 
of their workmen. 

“ We live in a land where there is true patriotism 
and love to fellow man but where the odds are so 
great against these apostles of better things that 
their figures stand out like the Christ of the Andes, 
solitary and alone. 

“The hacendado says, ‘ If I give decent houses 
to my workmen, they will still live like pigs and 
spend their wages in drink.’ Has anyone taught 
them better and does not he himself make and sell 
to them the wine and spirits that they drink? 

“The doctor says that if I tell a woman in a 
tenement to give her sick child a hot bath, she will 
not do it. Perhaps she cannot. To illustrate this 
the following case might be cited of a mother in a 


416 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Mission dispensary. When handing her her baby, 
just bathed and sweet and clean in fresh clothing, 
the nurse said: ‘ Now you bathe your baby your- 
self every day. You can use your bates (a wooden 
trough used for -washing). ‘But I have none, 
Senora.’ *’Then use your washbasin.’ ‘I have not 
that either.’ ‘ Get a paraffin tin and cut it length- 
wise. ‘ Yes, but that costs money.’ 

““Many of the babies die at time of weaning. 
The mother gives the child the breast just as long 
as there is a drop. That does not cost money. 
Then the child is given just whatever there is, 
bread, black coffee, beans, et cetera, not always 
because the mother knows no better but because 
there is no money to buy anything else. But why 
is there no money? It is an awful circle. The 
man drinks because he is poor and sick, and he is 
poor and sick because he drinks. ‘The family lives 
in a squalid room because they can pay for no 
better. The father drinks to drown his misery. 
The mother is hopeless and does not try to make 
things better. The children who manage to live 
early learn to fend for themselves, and so begins 
another circle.”’ | 

The Congress in Montevideo considered these 
facts and adopted the following findings regarding 
medical missions and health ministry in South 
America: 

“While recognizing the existence in some cities 
of good hospitals, well-trained physicians, and 
modern clinical facilities, we recognize the need of 
providing such health service in rural and other 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 417 





districts. Christ healed, taught, and preached. 
Can we afford to omit one of the means which He 
used? Why should medical work be established 
in South America? Because tens of thousands of 
lepers on this continent challenge Christianity; 
because huge tracts in some republics are without 
a medical man; because many towns have no med- 
ical attendance, or, at best, the visit of a physician 
once or twice a year; because in a city of approxi- 
mately a million inhabitants there is no children’s 
hospital or special care for tubercular patients; 
because, in at least one country, six out of ten chil- 
dren die before reaching the age of two years. 

“In order to help to remedy these conditions, it 
is recommended that there should be put into the 
field, under interdenominational auspices, a highly 
trained medical and health specialist for the fol- 
lowing purposes: to make a thorough study of 
medical and health conditions on the South Ameri- 
can continent; to formulate a farseeing, compre- 
hensive policy and program of development in 
health education on the basis of the study made; to 
serve as expert adviser on these matters to the 
Church Boards; to codperate with the national 
health forces in extending their program and 
propaganda to the neglected masses, to train the 
missionary forces on the field for the work of 
health education, and to foster the training of 
evangelical nationals for the service of health pro- 
motion. 

“It is suggested that a committee be appointed 
to confer with representatives of the Rockefeller 


418 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Foundation working along the line of nurses’ train- 
ing in Rio de Janeiro, with reference to the codp- 
eration of the evangelical forces in extending such 
training of nurses to other centers and regions. 

“It is urged that the several Mission Boards, 
independent of any joint action, study thoroughly 
their respective fields and resources with reference 
to their responsibility for the extension of medical 
and health service. 

“The Congress is glad to have heard that repre- 
sentatives have been appointed in South America 
by the American Mission to Lepers, and recom- 
mends that evangelical workers throughout the 
continent cooperate with this institution and fur- 
nish it with all the information available.” 

At present there are only two medical mission- 
aries in South America, Dr. W. W. Wood in Ponte 
Nova, Brazil, and Dr. McCormick in Lima, Peru. 
There are also a few dispensaries and clinics for the 
poor and for mothers and babies. No one can 
watch these poor women and the little ones, as in 
the “ Madre y Hijo” dispensaries in Santiago, 
without a heavy heart. Work like this might be 
multiplied tenfold in South America and the need 
would still be pressing. 

It is true that there are difficulties in the way of 
foreign medical missions in South America, just 
as there are in the way of foreign doctors practicing 
in the United States, but experience has shown that 
in some countries these can be overcome by wise and 
unselfish men, and there would be no difficulty 
except financial anywhere in the way of such work 


MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK 419 





as the national evangelical doctors are doing in the 
Evangelical Hospital in Rio, the only hospital of 
its kind in South America and the oldest piece of 
cooperative work in Brazil. 

In the past, medical missionary work has, with a 
very few exceptions, not been a part of the mis- 
sionary enterprise in South America, but the Con- 
gress at Montevideo was convinced that such work 
is as warranted and as necessary in the neglected 
areas of South America as anywhere else, and that 
it would commend and manifest the gospel and 
meet with as eager welcome as it has already done if 
it refrains from all competition with the work of the 
South American doctors and seeks only to supple-- 
ment that work by caring for the great multitudes 
now neglected. 


Re bcs? 


CHAPTER V 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE 
MISSIONARY WORK THERE 


HE delegates from the United States to the 
Congress on Christian Work in South 
America, held in Montevideo, March 29 to April 8, 
1925, after leaving the Congress attended the meet- 
ings of the regional conferences in Buenos Aires 
and Santiago and then sailed from Valparaiso on 
April 29. Before reaching Montevideo they had at- 
tended the meeting of the Brazilian Conference of 
the Evangelical Churches and Missions at Rio and 
had come from Rio overland to Sao Paulo, the sec- 
ond city in Brazil, to see Mackenzie College and the 
other evangelical work in this great center of the 
coffee trade. The delegation had had opportunity 
accordingly to see something of conditions in four 
of the South American countries, Brazil, Uruguay, 
Argentina, and Chile. There were, moreover, six 
specialized groups in our delegation, representing 
education, medicine and hygiene, literature and 
publication, women’s work of all types, the Indians, 
and general evangelistic work and Mission policy. 
Each of these groups was expected in each land to 
study its special field for the benefit of all the dele- 
gation, and each one had unusual opportunities for 
doing so, receiving a cordial and hospitable wel- 
come everywhere and from everyone. Two days 
420 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 421 


after leaving Valparaiso the deputation was to 
divide, part returning directly to the United States, 
but the larger part to visit Bolivia and Peru, leav- 
ing the steamship Santa Elisa at Antofagasta and 
going from there to La Paz and Cuzco and Are- 
quipa by rail. It seemed desirable to crown the 
daily meetings held on the Southern Cross, which 
the deputation had held on their way from New 
York to Brazil, with a closing meeting on the Santa 
Elisa to gather up the fresh impressions of the two 
months. 

These impressions were stated very freely, but 
those who spoke did so with the declaration that 
they had not had time to weigh their Judgments 
and review all their experiences and would not wish 
their first impressions to be regarded as final. 
Accordingly, in seeking to give a summary of what 
was said as we sailed along the high Andean ranges 
with the long swell of the southern Pacific rocking 
the ship, it will be fairer not to quote the names of 
the speakers. But it may be well to state who they 
were. Not all found time to speak but those who 
did speak from each group were the following: 
(1) Education. Dr. Frank K. Sanders, formerly 
president of Washburn College and dean of the 
Yale Divinity School, now Secretary of the Board 
of Missionary Preparation; Prof. D. J. Fleming, 
of Union Theological Seminary; Prof. Hl. A. 
Holmes, of the University of New York; Prof. 
W. W. Sweet, of De Pauw University; Dr. Wade 
C. Barclay, of the Sunday School Board of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. (2) Medicine and 


422 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 


Hygiene. Mr. K. S. Gilmore, President of the 
American Hospital Association and Superintend- 
ent of the Methodist Episcopal Hospital in 
Chicago, and Dr. Max J. Exner, Secretary of the 
American Association of Social Hygiene. (38) 
Literature and Publication. Dr. Orts Gonzales, 
Editor of La Nueva Democracia. (4) Women’s 
Work and Young Women’s Christian Association. 
Mrs. Francis J. McConnell, Mrs. Robert E. Speer, 
Mrs. James S. Cushman, Mrs. D. J. Fleming. 
(5) Indians. Mrs. Walter H. Roe and Miss 
Edith Dabb. (6) General Problems. Bishop 
EF. J. McConnell, Dr. S. G. Inman, Mrs. R. A. 
Doan, Rev. Albert E. Day, of Canton, Ohio, and 
Mr. F. P. Turner, Secretary of the Conference of 
the Foreign Mission Boards of North America. 
These were the friendly and sympathetic visitors 
whose first and unreviewed impressions it may be 
worth while to record. There were other delegates 
to the Congress of course, not on our ship. 

“My first impression,” began one of the edu- 
eational group, “is of the many good men here in 
South America with whom we ought to work. Of 
course we met the best and the most friendly men in 
Government, education, and public life, and per- 
haps we had exceptional opportunities of access, but 
I wonder whether our missionary work might not 
draw closer to these men and help them and be 
helped by them. We were greatly impressed by 
their quality and their spirit and aims. For the 
most part they are already aloof from the Roman 
Catholic Church and their ideals of freedom and 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 423 





progress are in close accord with ours. We ought 
to be working together now more than we are.” 

“My interest,” said the next speaker, “was 
primarily in the Indians, and one sees at once the 
lack of integration in the whole problem. The 
character and status of the Indian differs in the 
different countries. Some of these countries have 
a true conception of the problem and are earnestly 
dealing with it and elsewhere it is conceived in a 
totally inadequate way. In some cases the dis- 
tinctness of the problem is realized and elsewhere 
it isnot. As you go home will you not turn atten- 
tion to this problem of at least 10,000,000 Indians 
in South America? ”’ 

“What we have seen,” remarked the third 
speaker, “ shows that in this work persons count. 
The personal touch means more than anything else. 
Impersonally our problems are much the same. 
The problem is one of persons. And the persons 
here are now accessible to the right persons from 
without or within. In each country there are some 
leaders awake to the social and religious problems. 
As we think and speak of South America at home 
we must keep in mind these men and women in 
whose leadership there is great hope.” 

“It was a revelation to me,” said one of the 
women, “to feel the touch of the women of Chile 
and a few other women with the human problem. 
They were thinking and feeling with the best 
women of all lands. But then there were few such 
women, and there was a great gulf between them 
and the mass of women. ‘They feel keenly the 


424 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





smallness of their numbers and some of them are 
discouraged, but there are able and trusted leaders 
who will not lose heart, like Madam Mesquita, of 
Brazil, Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poetess, and 
Dona Eudalia, of the Club de Senoras, and 
Senora Elena Oliveira de Castro, of the National 
Council of Women in Santiago. Also, I was dis- 
tressed at our Protestant neglect of beauty in our 
bare worship and our poor, barren churches. 
Protestantism at home has been very negligent of 
the right and use of beauty and it has been even 
more so here. Of course most of the people of our 
evangelical churches are poor and their houses are 
bare, and it is quite true that much of the Roman 
Catholic Church adornment is tawdry and ugly 
and not beautiful, but Nature is beautiful here and 
the Spanish tradition has so many elements of 
beauty in it that I wonder if we could not make 
more of it.” 

“TI have the same feeling,’ replied another 
woman. “ The Government and Roman Catholic 
school buildings which we have seen were so much 
more beautiful than our Mission schools. Why do 
we sacrifice color and beauty so for our Puritan 
barrenness? I want to get pictures and beautiful 
adornments for our schools. I don’t believe we use 
beauty enough in the cultivation of the soul.” 

“Women have been gaining their rights steadily 
in South America,’ added the former speaker. 
“In Chile under the new laws women now control 
their own property and have equal control of the 
children. In Argentina, however, we were told 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 425 





that three quarters of a wife’s earnings can be taken 
to pay her husband’s debts.” 

“As to the hospitals,” said one of the medical 
group, “ I have seen some of the best and some of 
the worst I have ever seen; some that would com- 
pare with our best at home and some that are be- 
yond all condemnation, with wretched sanitation 
and with shameless crowding. ‘The doctors are 
good but the great weakness is a lack of nurses. 
In consequence there is no competent postoperative 
care. ‘The great need is for the development of a 
trained nursing profession such as the Rockefeller 
Foundation is helping to develop in Rio. And 
poor nurses are due in fact to the attitude of South 
America to women. The doctors do not regard 
women as equal or efficient. There is no greater 
need in South America than for nurses and nursing 
schools. I can’t conceive of a more powerful 
Christian agency than a company of nurses.” 

“We have had an enlarging experience,” said 
the next speaker. “It is a good discipline to try 
to come into sympathetic understanding with a con- 
tinent. As for me, I go back with a far greater 
hope than ever before. The problems of social 
health are more even than I had supposed. The 
price which South America is paying in prevent- 
able sex diseases is colossal. But there are true 
leaders and real movements under way to deal with 
these evils. In Chile they have now a law requir- 
ing a certificate from a state examiner of good 
health on the part of both parties before civil mar- 
riage. These countries are looking for the best 


426 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





experience of other countries in dealing with these 
problems. We need to keep in friendly association 
with them, with more frequent interchange of 
thought. Thus we shall spread the processes of 
social evolution.” 

“As for me,” one of the educationalists con- 
tinued, ‘“‘ I have as yet not so much impressions as 
interrogations. I wonder why we can’t provide 
more adequate educational plants. With two or 
three exceptions, all the mission institutions we — 
have seen were inadequately equipped. Can’t the 
Boards unite and do together what they can’t do 
alone? And how can we produce more leaders 
both in the Church and in society? And ought we 
not to send out to our institutions young people 
with more adequate equipment? ‘These are some 
of my questions. As yet I have questions but not 
answers.” 

“That is my position, too,” added one of the 
laymen. “I remember something that Dr. 
Ernesto Nelson, of Argentina, said at Montevideo 
on the ‘ Night of the Open Heart’: ‘ A believer 
who is a rascal is a thousand times more harmful 
than an atheist who lives a Christian life. You 
remember he told us that Christianity, thanks to 
the historic Church here, is a discredited banner in 
South America. How can we overcome all this 
with a more powerful leadership? Also, I wonder 
if our methods which accept our denominational 
distinctions are right. I do not like the findings at 
Montevideo on cooperation and union because they 
assure the continuance of our denominations. I 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 427 


think they should all be one and that we ought to 
begin at home.” 

‘““ My impression,” said one of the home pastors 
of the group, “is of the great amount of moral and 
spiritual idealism which is not being capitalized for 
the Kingdom of God. We need missionaries who 
can reach these idealists who are outside of any 
Church. In the interest of general evangelization 
I would do more to reach these leaders.” 

“IT ask myself,” said a home teacher, “ how we 
can help South America when we get home. We 
owe South America a better understanding in the 
United States. There is so much that is good, that 
we ought to appreciate and praise. I am going to 
try to make my students see this as well as the 
other side.” 

‘“‘T have seen nothing more beautiful,” said one 
of the women, “than the affection and joy of the 
girls in the Young Women’s Christian Association 
in Santiago. Their interest and devotion were 
lovely. These girls of South America are eager 
for friendship and responsive to every effort to 
provide for them what our own girls have at home.” 

“What a treasure we shall always have now in 
our new friendships,” added one of themen. “ We 
should keep these alive. It has been a joy to meet 
these good men. At the same time I would qualify 
a little what is said about the leader class. As a 
matter of fact here, as in the United States, any 
men and women of intelligence and character can 
rise to leadership. Perhaps the most influential 
woman in Chile did not come from a family of 


428 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





social position or wealth. We do well in our Mis- 
sion work to lay our emphasis on work for the great 
body of the people. As to our teachers, I, too, 
would prepare them better for specialized teaching, 
but it is easy for teachers to lose sight of the fact 
that persons more than subjects to be taught are 
the important thing.” 

“Well, I could make criticisms on what we have 
seen,’ said another, “but I would say only one ~ 
thing, that it seems to me that what is needed in 
South America is some of the courage of Paul in 
these Nicodemus leaders. ‘There are many of them 
who are in sympathy with our evangelical Churches 
and their principles but who are not ready to make 
the sacrifice of open avowal. How are we to get 
churches for this class until some of them boldly 
do what Paul did in identifying himself with the 
Church of the despised and the poor?” 

“This trip has been a delight to me,” said 
another member of the group. “I have seen how 
missionary work begins, and how necessary it is to 
begin right even if it means slower growth. I 
realize the importance of this especially in the 
matter of self-support. ‘To do for people what 
they can and ought to do for themselves is an 
injury and not a kindness.” 

‘Well, I come home loving the women and girls 
of South America,” said another of the women, 
“and especially of Chile. The new movement of 
life is certainly active among them. I have been 
disappointed in the churches of some of these coun- 
tries, but ever since I have seen the girls I have 


IMPRESSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA 429 





taken fresh courage, and I observe that the women 
leaders in the Mission work and in many other 
aspects of life in some of these lands are the gradu- 
ates of our Mission schools.” 

“What the Missions have done,” said the last 
woman who spoke, “is the miracle of the loaves 
and the fishes. And the results are just now be- 
ginning. From the little that we have given as yet, 
far greater things are already appearing. I think 
we should study the needs of Christian mysticism 
in our Protestant worship and its forms. Also we 
should see that these girls, so eager and friendly, 
deserve what they are reaching out for. In edu- 
cation they certainly deserve something better than 
that which goes under the name of ‘ university’ in 
some of these countries.” 

“Of my impressions,” said one of the group, “ I 
would speak of three: First, I see more clearly 
than ever the value and necessity of the work of the 
Committee on Cooperation in Latin America and I 
appreciate what Mr. Inman and Dr. Orts have 
done. Second, I, too, wish we might reach influ- 
ential leaders but I remember that the New Testa- 
ment was written in the language of ordinary men 
and that the gospel took hold on the mass of human 
society. Do not let us be afraid to go down to the 
peon and the rato. And third, we are asking too 
much of our missionaries in the way of sacrifice.” 

“Well,” said the last speaker, “we are going 
home to be a company of advocates of South 
America. We have got a great deal of good and 
made many friends. The great South American 


430 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





papers could not have been kinder to us than they 
were and we have helped the leaders of the national 
evangelical Churches to realize the real purpose of 
our missionary work and to see more clearly the 
ideal of it all which is to be realized in their abso- 
lute independence and authority. We have done 
our best to help them to see that the Mission and 
the home Churches are eager to have them take the 
leadership that we may follow them. ‘The Con- 
gress at Montevideo and the regional conferences 
which preceded and followed it have made it clear 
how great is our duty at home to work together 
with one another and with the South American 
Churches. They laid out a dozen more tasks which 
they wish us to undertake with them. If anyone 
thought that we are not wanted in South America 
or that our work is done, these congresses put an 
end to that misconception. ‘They called for a 
quadrupling of our codperative work. Let us go 
home to summon our Churches to respond to the 
call which we have heard set forth with such ur- 
gency and friendship and good will.” 

These were first impressions. One may be sure 
that some of them, at least, will remain as perma- 
nent convictions. 


R. E. S. 


A BRIEF READING LIST ON CHILE AND 
BRAZIL 


(Notre. — For those who desire a shorter list than the fol- 
lowing, certain books which might be included in such an 
abbreviated list, are starred.) 


GENERAL 


* South of Panama, by E. A. Ross. The Century Company, 
New York, 1921. 

A clear and informing summary of impressions by a 
well known sociologist. 

* South America: Observations and Impressions, by James 
Bryce. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1912. 

An interesting description of the countries on the west 
and east coasts of South America by the late Lord 
Bryce. 

The South American Tour, by Annie S. Peck. George H. 
Doran Company, New York, 1924. 

There is material in this book of value to the traveler 
and tourist, though the style hardly does justice to the 
subject matter. 

History of the Latin American Nations, by W. S. Robertson. 
D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1922. 

An inclusive and readable history, not overburdened 
with detail, of all the Latin American countries. A 
valuable introductory volume. 

* The Commercial Traveler's Guide to Latin America. Re- 
vised Edition. Edited by Ernst B. Filsinger, U. S. 
Department of Commerce, 89. Government Printing 
Office, Washington, 1922. 

A detailed compilation of important facts concerning 
the Latin American countries, published originally in 
separate volumes by the U. S. Department of Commerce. 

*The Rise of the Spanish American Republics, by W. S. 

431 


432 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





Robertson. D. Appleton and Company, New York, 
1921. 

A more detailed history, based on the original sources, 
of the recent development of the chief Spanish American 
republics as told in the lives of their liberators. 

Pan-American Relations, by W. S. Robertson, Oxford Uni- 
versity Press, 1923. 

A study of the particular relationships, commercial, 
social, and political, which form the basis of the inter- 
related life of the American republics to-day. 

One Hundred Years of the Monroe Doctrine, by David Y. 
Thomas. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1923. 

An account of the formation and development of one 
of the chief principles in the foreign policy of the United 
States, with a study of its influence not only in America 
but also in Asia, Europe, and Africa. 

* Problems in Pan-Americanism, by S.G. Inman. George H. 
Doran Company, New York, 1921. 

A general discussion of present-day political, social 
and religious problems, by the Secretary of the Com- 
mittee on Codperation in Latin America. 

Men, Maidens and Mantillas, by Stella Burke May. The 
Century Company, New York, 1923. 

A vivid and readable description of Latin American 

life and customs by a well-known traveler. 


LITERATURE 


*The Literary History of Spanish America, by Alfred 
Coester. The Macmillan Company, New York, 1916. 
Studies in Spanish American Literature, by Isaac Goldberg. 
Brentano’s, New York, 1920. 

The first book is a general introduction to the subject; 
the second is a more detailed and technical study of 
certain phases and writers in Latin America. 

Brazilian Literature, by Isaac Goldberg. A. A. Knopf, New 
York, 1922. 
A study of the literature of Brazil. 


A BRIEF READING LIST 433 





Ariel, by Jose Enrique Rodo. Houghton Mifflin Company, 
Boston, 1922. ‘Translated into English by Fred J. Stim- 
son, late United States Ambassador to Argentina. 

A volume of delightful essays by one who has been 
styled “The Emerson of South America.” It would be 
better to read this book in the original Spanish but the 
translation will be helpful. 


RELIGIOUS CONDITIONS 


* New Days in Latin America, by Webster E. Browning. 
Missionary Education Movement, 1925. 

* Looking Ahead with Latin America, by Stanley High. Mis- 
sionary Education Movement, 1925. 

The mission-study textbooks for 1925-1926, which give 
a brief, popular statement of the present-day situation in 
Latin America, with special reference to the work of 
Protestant Missions there. 

Roman Catholicism in Latin American Lands, by Webster E. 
Browning. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 
1924. 

A clear and fair description and discussion of Roman 
Catholicism in Latin America by the Educational Secre- 
tary of the Committee on Codperation in Latin America, 
who has spent nearly thirty years in South America. 

* Christian Work in South America (2 volumes). Fleming 
H. Revell Company, 1925. 

The report of the Congress on Christian Work in 
South America held in Montevideo, Uruguay, March 
29 to April 8, 1925. Contains full and complete in- 
formation concerning the Protestant movement in South 
America. 

Missions in South America, by Robert E. Speer. Presby- 
terian Board of Foreign Missions, 1909. 

A valuable study of Presbyterian Missions, printed 
especially for the Missions and the Board, based on a 
trip to South America in 1909. 


434 MODERN MISSIONS IN BRAZIL 





FROM THE MEDICAL VIEWPOINT 


South America from the Surgeon’s Viewpoint, by Franklin 
H. Martin. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 
1922. 

A discussion “of public health and medical education 
and service in South America by an eminent American 
surgeon. 2 


CHILE 


* Chile To-Day and To-Morrow, by L. E. Elliott. The Mac- 
millan Company, New York, 1922. | 
A well-written description of the country and its 
people. 
Two Thousand Miles Through Chile, by Earl C. May. The 
Century Company, New York, 1924. 
An interesting account of modern conditions in Chile 
by a skillful observer. 
Vagabonding Down the Andes, by Harry A. Franck. The 
Century Company, New York, 1923. 
The concluding chapters are devoted to Chile. 
’"Twirt the Andes and the Sea. Year Book of the Chile 
Mission, 1923. 
A current account of the work of the Presbyterian 
Mission in Chile. 


BRAZIL 


The Brazilians and Their Country, by C. F. Cooper. 
Heineman and Company, London, 1920. 
* Brazil To-Day and To-Morrow, by L. E. Elliott. The 
Macmillan Company, New York, 1917. 
Working North from Patagonia, by Harry A. Franck. The 
Century Company, New York, 1921. 
The story of the conclusion of the author’s four-year 
trip through Latin America, written in his own indi- 
vidual style. 


Ta He 
‘ KenL 
BT Ute 


* Ni 





“gs * 


-Date Due 





Fh ie 











a= 
awk 














y 





i 




















ll 


—Speer Li 


= 








razil, 








| 
| 





ary 





n 


Ih 























\o 





eo 


ll 


h 


.W56 
i 


dern mis 


| 


si 





Princeton a | 


Wn 


™ 
<4 
oO 
a+ 
S 
co 


Mo 





